Graffiti News

A mall entrance becomes a place to pause

Haywood Mall in Greenville has installed a mural intended to encourage conversations about mental health and reduce stigma. Greenville News reported on September 25, 2026, that the project brings together the mall, mental health nonprofit Walt's Waltz and Greenville artist Nick Burns. Its location outside a mall entrance puts the work along an everyday route, where people can encounter it without setting out to visit an exhibition.

The mural honors Walt, the late son of Walt's Waltz founder Susan Crooks. According to the newspaper, Walt died by suicide in 2019 at age 35 after a long struggle with treatment resistant anxiety. The project carries that personal history into a shared setting through a landscape and butterflies. Crooks hopes the space will invite people to slow down, enjoy their surroundings and check in with one another.

For people following murals and public art, the setting is part of the story. A painting at a shopping entrance can be encountered in passing, then revisited with a fuller understanding of its subject. Here, the relationship between the image and its memorial purpose gives visitors a reason to look beyond its colors.

The mountain and butterfly carry specific memories

The landscape depicts Paris Mountain, a place where Walt liked to hike and swim. Crooks told Greenville News that her son enjoyed being outdoors and found peace there. The mountain therefore connects the mural to both a local landscape and the life being remembered. It is a personal reference within an image that also works as a landscape for passing viewers.

The butterfly comes from the Walt's Waltz logo. Its deliberately imperfect form has a semicolon as its body, which the report identifies as a symbol of suicide prevention. Seeing that detail changes how the image can be read: the butterfly is also a link to the organization's work and the subject behind the commission.

These elements offer a straightforward way to approach the mural. First take in the mountain scene, then look at the butterfly's body and consider the connection between the imagery and Walt's memory. That reading follows the documented references in the work without requiring additional claims about what any individual viewer will feel.

A family memorial connects with community work

Walt's Waltz grew out of Crooks's loss and has worked to challenge mental health stigma through education and free community events. Greenville News reports that the organization incorporated three weeks after Walt's death and became a nonprofit within six months. By the date of the report, its work had continued for six years.

Haywood Mall marketing director Brandi Crowe said Crooks came to mind when the opportunity for a mural arose. Crooks selected Burns, who had previously painted a portrait of Walt after his death. The artist's earlier connection with the family adds another layer to the collaboration: the memorial subject was already part of his work before the mall project.

The mural was completed for a dedication during September's Suicide Prevention Month. Burns described his aim as making a hopeful work that could give people room to stop, connect and talk. That intention places conversation alongside commemoration. The source does not report measured changes in attitudes or health outcomes; the significance described is the purpose of the space and the collaboration that created it.

Find the mural near the lower level entrance

The mural is at Haywood Mall's lower level entrance near Texas de Brazil. According to the September 25, 2026, report, its dedication is scheduled for 6 p.m. that date and will include planting a butterfly garden. At the time of publication, both the ceremony and the planting remain scheduled activities.

Kendra Scott is also scheduled to hold a shopping event from 5 to 8 p.m., with 20 percent of proceeds benefiting Walt's Waltz. A resource box is planned for the garden, containing Walt's Waltz pins, butterfly logo coloring sheets and a QR code for information about the nonprofit. These materials extend the subject beyond the painted surface by giving visitors a way to learn about the organization.

For a visit, the lower level entrance and nearby restaurant are the location references supplied by the newspaper. The report does not provide a street address or viewing hours. Looking at the overall landscape and then its smaller symbols offers a way to spend time with the work while keeping its memorial background in view.

Explore other murals on Wallscape's map.

Source: Greenville News

Crisis support: In the United States, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.