As part of Miami Art Week, artists Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky (the husband and wife team known as the Clandestinos) paid tribute to Lolita the orca in a big way. The duo painted an 83.5-foot-wide mural called “Free Lolita” on the side of a building owned by the mayor of Miami Beach, Florida, Philip Levine, who supports Lolita’s release from the Miami Seaquarium.
Mural by Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky | Photo by Jenna Lyn Pimentel“Miami should be known for its vibrant culture, not for the smallest orca prison in North America. This beautiful mural is helping make it clear that the Miami Seaquarium is no place for this far-ranging, majestic, and endangered orca, who desperately needs her freedom.”
—Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine
Pamela Anderson, Miami arts patron Jorge Pérez, and others have also spoken out in support of both the mural and Lolita’s release.
What You Can Do
Urge Palace Entertainment—the owner of the Miami Seaquarium—to retire Lolita to a coastal sanctuary that’s already available for her rehabilitation.
Mural curated by UP Art Studio, a Houston-based organization that facilitates public art and murals.
