Bridgeport’s Halsted viaduct just south of Archer Avenue is shedding its gray, grimy skin. Local artist Anna Piszczor — known in the art world as Zor Zor Zor — is leading the transformation, turning the massive concrete underpass into a sprawling mural titled “Bridgeport is for Everyone.”
With final touch-ups set to be completed next month, the freight-train underpass is the largest surface she has ever painted — roughly 15 feet tall and 270 feet long.
This isn’t just paint on concrete. It’s a vibrant celebration of community and an artist’s personal journey that started on the Southwest Side, where Zor Zor Zor’s roots run deep.
She attended Kennedy High School and remembers riding with her family from their home in Clearing to Back of the Yards for church.
“I would watch the neighborhoods get rougher and rougher,” she said. “Graffiti-style murals dotted the landscape.”
It wasn’t until visiting France that she became fascinated by Parisian graffiti-style murals, that she calls a a quickly disappearing visual history of street life.
“Visiting Paris is what sparked my love for murals, graffiti, and street art,” she said. Since 2011, she has pursued that passion around the world — painting walls in Thailand, Mexico, and Iowa — before returning home to Chicago.
Known for her black-and-white murals and 3D sculptures, Zor Zor Zor embraced vibrant color for the Bridgeport mural, reflecting the neighborhood’s energy and diversity.
She learned about the giant mural project through an open call from the South Loop Chamber of Commerce.
“I really wanted the job,” she said. “I wanted to create a positive message entering Bridgeport.”
Having lived in the neighborhood for 10 years, she’s seen it grow and change.
“Bridgeport is home to people of all races and religions. Some families have been here for generations, while others are just moving in,” she said. “It’s a very welcoming neighborhood — a place where people come, go, and grow.”
Getting permission to paint both sides of the viaduct was no small feat. Zor Zor Zor applied for an open call for artists by the South Loop Chamber of commerce and was selected to take tranform dull gray concrete into a canvas for community pride.
Zor Zor Zor has made the mural project into a neighborhood affair, inviting locals to join her artistic endevor. The first community paint day drew about 15 people. The next one? Around 60 kids and adults rolled up their sleeves and helped fill in the bold designs.
The South Loop Chamber gave the project a shoutout on Instagram, thanking neighbors who “picked up a brush and added their creative touch.”
For nearly seven years, Zor Zor Zor ran Grace Jane Studio in Bridgeport, a gallery and creative hub for emerging artists. The studio closed this summer, but her connection to the neighborhood remains strong.
This beautification project is a vivid reminder of how Zor Zor Zor sees her adopted neighborhood — a place where people from everywhere come together.
Kelly White contributed reporting to this story.