NoMa BID Announces Winning Design for Yet Another New Mural to Be Installed on M Street NE Overpass

May 19, 2022 (Washington, DC) – The NoMa BID announced today that artist Michelle McAuliffe is the winner of its design competition for a new mural to be installed in summer 2022 on the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) overpass above M Street NE in NoMa.

The NoMa BID had issued an open call to artists in early spring 2022, and received submissions from a wide variety of local artists who submitted eye-catching designs for a new mural to be installed on the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) overpass above M Street NE in NoMa. After reviewing all submissions, a committee of BID staff and community volunteers selected three finalist designs to be put to a community-wide vote.

McAuliffe is an artist, designer, and researcher based in Washington, DC, and is a student at Gallaudet University, located in NoMa.  Gallaudet is the only university in the world for the deaf and hard of hearing. Deaf since birth, McAuliffe’s winning design features a colorful array of human hands which spell out “NoMa” in American Sign Language (ASL).

“Deaf since birth, I often use a cross-disciplinary approach to explore the connections between art and communication,” explained McAuliffe “In this colorful mural I designed, I am connecting the bridge between the hearing and deaf communities by using colors, shapes, and, especially, ASL. As one may notice, NoMa is fingerspelled in ASL. The colors and shapes represent all kinds of identities and places, connecting everyone with one single word: humanity.”

About NoMa BID

The NoMa Business Improvement District (BID) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to be a steward and champion of the neighborhood of NoMa. The NoMa BID encompasses 35 blocks just north of Union Station in Northeast Washington, DC. The NoMa BID is among the fastest-growing neighborhoods in Washington, DC, and is comprised of more than 16 million square feet of new development, with more than 30 million additional square feet of mixed used development planned. There are more than 42,000 households within a ½ mile radius of the BID, who are served by the amenities in the commercial core of NoMa. The area is supported by unparalleled public transportation access with two Red Line Metro stations, and VRE, MARC and Amtrak connections at Union Station. The “Walkscore” for the neighborhood is 92, and the neighborhood has 22 LEED-certified and Energy Star buildings. For more information, visit nomabid.org and sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Twitter (@NoMaBID), Instagram (@noma.bid) and LinkedIn (/noma–business–improvement–district) and like us on Facebook (/NoMaBID).