---
title: Alum’s Street Art Goes Viral (and Anti-Viral)
date: 2022-04-05T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/alums-street-art-goes-viral-and-anti-viral"
section: Articles
---
# Alum’s Street Art Goes Viral (and Anti-Viral)

*April 5, 2022* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> Wall-Covering Creations Cover Pandemic, Racial Justice, and now Ukraine

*Doheny HOPE 6 1920x1080 — Los Angeles-based street artist Corie Mattie ’12, left, has painted murals that touch on issues like Black Lives Matter and the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, she's partnering with a Wheaton, Md.-based nonprofit on a mural that allows visitors to support women and girls in Ukraine.*

Artist Corie Mattie ’12 knows how to draw attention to current events and causes, and in a big way.

After the pandemic started, the self-described “LA Hope Dealer” spent 20 hours hand-painting a West Hollywood building’s wall with an image of herself in a white doctor’s coat: inside, the word “hope” was a nod to the medicine Mattie believes in most. Next to the image were the words, “Cancel plans. Not humanity.” Soon, her mural was featured in The New York Times and The Huffington Post, as well as on MSNBC.

After that, Mattie began painting more murals in her signature yellow, black and white palette, from a piece in support of the Black Lives Matter movement to a “Be More Like Betty” portrait that paid tribute to Betty White after her death.


*Artist Corie Mattie ’12 sits near mural that reads, "HOPE"*




**Topics:** [People](https://today.umd.edu/tags/people)


**Tags:** [Alumni](https://today.umd.edu/topic/alumni), [Visual Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/visual-arts), [War in Ukraine](https://today.umd.edu/topic/war-in-ukraine)