Murals inspired by Kobe Bryant pop up in Manila

Kobe mural inside Araneta City

One of the activities commemorating the life and legacy of Kobe Bryant via Mamba Week saw Nike Philippines commission a couple of murals in Metro Manila.

To do that, Nike joined forces with local graffiti trio ARAL Cru and Kayo Cosio of Honeycomb Arts to design murals inside Araneta City in Quezon City and along EDSA-Kalayaan.

Honeycomb Arts have handled over sixty of these projects here and abroad, using public art as a means to convey culture and messaging, whilst the trio of Bvdot, Cinos, and Frank embody the Mamba Mentality with their hard work, quality of execution, the ability to work under pressure, and of course, love for the game.

The first project saw them head inside Araneta City, to a space that directly faces the Araneta Coliseum. The Big Dome hosted Kobe's final appearance in Manila.

The portrait portion of the mural is derived from a photo of Kobe smiling during the visit. The mural itself depicts imagery of fearlessness and focus, and a color scheme that resembles a sunset, which sets a tone of thankfulness for a good Kobe day that had passed.

ARAL Cru at the Kobe mural along EDSA-Kalayaan

A few hours later, ARAL Cru made the trek towards EDSA-Kalayaan for the other mural for Kobe, using the same colors as the one in Araneta City.

This particular one uses the symbolism of the sunrise and the beginning of a new day. It depicts Kobe wearing his two iconic jersey numbers, 8 and 24, shooting crumpled pieces of paper into a trash bin. An optimistic way of showing the moment when we are reminded to be a little better each time the sun rises, just like Kobe. Throughout his career he evolved both as a person and as an athlete, he was always the one you could reliably turn to when the game is on the line.