PEORIA, Ill. – Abraham Lincoln is getting a 21st century makeover at the Peoria County Courthouse.
The “Abraham Blue” mural, which has been on the courthouse since 2018, was taken down last week. The mural’s artist, Big Picture Peoria’s Doug Leunig, says the artwork was showing its age.
“It literally was bleaching away because the technology of that mounted mural, and in fact all of the mounted murals that we have in town, that was only designed to be up there, in sunlight, for 2-3 years,” Doug Leunig says.
What will go in its place is a new, pink version of the mural, which is expected to go up this week.
Doug Leunig says the pink version is a follow-up to the blue one that stood for five years. He says while the blue version aimed at drawing attention to mental health awareness and Lincoln’s struggles with it, the pink version will convey a message that things can get better for people who overcome depression.
The mural will also have an augmented reality feature. Doug’s wife, Eileen, says people will be able to point their phones at the new mural, and be able to watch and read speeches by Lincoln.
“There is a section on his historic speech in 1854, which is commonly known now as his ‘Peoria Speech.’ It’s the first time he came out publicly against slavery. And that speech is credited to form the foundation of the speeches he gave after that, and ultimately led him to the White House,” Eileen Leunig said.
Eileen Leunig says there’s also a section people can view where Lincoln talks about overcoming depression.
