Website Aims To Track Every Kobe Bryant Mural Tribute Around The World
After Kobe Bryant’s tragic passing on January 26, 2020, many artists paid tribute to the NBA great by painting murals in his honor, in hometown of Los Angeles and around the world.
As the one-year anniversary of the deaths of Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people approaches, a website has been set up to track all of the murals worldwide and help fans pay their respects.
KobeMural.com has mapped out hundreds of murals in Southern California, across the United States and around the world, including pictures of the works of art.
The website’s stated goal is “to promote artists and organize locations of all Kobe & Gianna Bryant art murals in Los Angeles and around the world” and says they’re a “free resource, dedicated to the fans and to honor those we lost.”
Mike Asner, the creator of KobeMural.com told USA Today that he’s trying his best to track all of the murals but believes the hundreds he’s already recorded don’t represent the full picture.
“There are many more than that," Asner said. “There are probably murals in every corner of the world that I don’t know about."
A lifelong Lakers fan from L.A., Asner considers Bryant a hero and has found new heroes — the artists who have painted the murals.
“A lot of them have Mamba mentality,’’ Asner said, referring to Bryant’s mantra.
Jonas Never, a street artist who has painted murals depicting Kobe, says he’s still in disbelief that Bryant’s gone even after a year has nearly passed. “I’m still trying to grasp it,’’ Never said of the mural madness, according to USA Today. “I’ve never seen an outpouring of public art of anyone in the history of the world.’’
KobeMural.com isn’t the only digital space dedicated to preserving Mamba’s memory. The Instagram account @kobearoundla posts pictures of all the memorials to Bryant in the City of Angels.
On January 26, 2020, Kobe and Gianna Bryant were headed to a basketball tournament at Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks, California when their helicopter crashed. The accident killed them and seven other passengers — Payton Chester, Sarah Chester, Alyssa Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, John Altobelli, Christina Mauser — as well as the helicopter’s pilot, Ara Zobayan.
