Community members may have spotted a large banner across the front of Lawrence City Hall recently, turning one downtown building into a display of soccer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
After being down for a few weeks following storm damage, went back on display late last week. The banner features 13 photos by Gary Mark Smith, a street photographer and longtime Lawrence art figure.
The piece — titled “Soka Kila Mahali,” Swahili for “Soccer Everywhere” — is part of the Unmistakable Public Art Exhibition. The images were taken in Goma, in eastern Congo, during a United Nations peacekeeping mission in 2015.
Goma has also drawn global attention in recent months because of Ebola outbreaks, adding another layer of urgency to the city that Smith said made the work feel especially fitting.
“The biggest, most important part of that exhibit to me is where it’s from — Goma, Congo,” Smith said. “It’s my duty for the rest of my life to try and bring people’s attention to this war.”
Smith said the photos show children playing soccer in a place shaped by violence and displacement. He describes the scenes as universal — kids kicking a ball wherever they can — but they are also deeply tied to the setting where they were found.
Soccer, Smith said, turns up everywhere he goes, sometimes in the most basic form imaginable — even a bottle cap kicked around a street in Tangier, Morocco.
“These kids are playing soccer all over the world, soccer everywhere,” Smith said.
The DRC’s eastern region has been gripped for decades by armed conflict that has killed millions and displaced millions more. Smith calls it the most ignored war ever.
What counts as public art?
This piece stands out in Lawrence, not only because of the subject matter but also its medium and size.
The 14-by-18-foot banner stretched across the front of City Hall is the first time the Unmistakable Public Art Exhibition has had a large-scale photographic banner. It will be on display through August.
Historically, the art exhibit had included sculptures and murals because those could withstand the elements along Massachusetts Street.
“Photographers aren’t public art,” Smith said. “I’ve broken through a ceiling with my photograph. We found a way to make it public art by putting it on the banner and being able to put it in the rain.”
When the call came for the exhibition, which had a soccer theme in advance of the World Cup, Smith knew he had the images. He called Porter Arneill, assistant director of Parks, Recreation and Culture.
“I have no business applying for this event,” Smith said. “I told him the idea, and he said, ‘No, apply.’ He said, ‘Put down that you’re going to project the piece onto a wall.’”
The finished work was selected for the program and placed on City Hall. Storms later pulled the banner down, but it has since been reinstalled and is again visible downtown.
Smith said he views this as a milestone in expanding what counts as public art in Lawrence.
“This is Art City, Lawrence, Kansas, USA,” Smith said.
Smith said his use of the grid format for the banner reflects his belief that a single image often cannot carry the full weight of a story.
“One photo doesn’t say enough of monumental moments,” Smith said.
He has used that throughout his career photographing street life, natural disasters and war, often in dangerous conditions.
Smith said that he has remained rooted in Lawrence during decades of travel and has long been involved in the local art scene as a teacher, a mentor and donor of thousands of images to the Watkins Museum, the Spencer Museum and the Spencer Research Library.
“I’ve been to 101 countries, and I wouldn’t live anywhere but Lawrence, Kansas,” Smith said.
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Courtney Lane (she/her), staff reporter, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2026. She can be reached at [email protected].
Read her complete bio here. Read her work for the Times at this link, and see her photography for the Times at this link.
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