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DALLAS — <\/span>As Dallas pulls out the stops for the World Cup<\/a> this summer, one makeover is causing an uproar: the sudden disappearance of a beloved, giant mural downtown of swimming whales.<\/p>\n \u201cI see that mural almost every day on my way to school and then one day they were painting it over,\u201d Katy Rose Cusick said. \u201cAnd it was so incredibly shocking to me that that could happen so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Work has been underway this month to paint over the mural that’s graced two entire walls of a parking garage for nearly 30 years to make way for art related to the upcoming World Cup matches. Wyland, the artist who created the mural, said in a statement that its destruction has left him \u201cdeeply disheartened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a piece that has carried meaning for generations can be erased without dialogue, it raises serious questions about how we value public art, artists, and the communities these works were created to serve,\u201d Wyland said.<\/p>\n Cusick and Joshua Hurston, seniors at a local performing and visual arts high school, started a Change.org petition hoping to raise awareness to protect history and art. The petition has gotten hundreds of signatures so far, including from those with fond memories of spotting the mural as children.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we couldn\u2019t save necessarily the mural, making sure that something like this doesn\u2019t happen again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the area\u2019s World Cup organizing committee said in a statement they were looking forward to \u201cunveiling a new piece that captures this current historical moment and reflects the energy, unity, and global spirit surrounding the World Cup 2026,\u201d adding that a \u201cportion\u201d of Wyland\u2019s mural will be preserved \u201cas a tribute to its lasting impact on the city.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas is hosting<\/a> more World Cup matches than any of the other sites in the event co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with nine matches set to be played at AT&T Stadium in suburban Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys. The retractable roof venue<\/a> will be called Dallas Stadium for the World Cup.<\/p>\n Downtown Dallas Inc. said in a statement that it was part of the early discussions about the mural and confirmed it wasn’t part of the city’s public art collection before introducing the World Cup organizing committee to the building’s owners. A spokesperson for the building’s owners, Slate Asset Management, said they were approached by Downtown Dallas Inc. and the organizing committee earlier this year about donating the wall for a new public art installation by a local artist. <\/p>\n The mural, titled \u201cWhaling Wall 82,\u201d was dedicated in 1999. Wyland has painted over 100 similar murals known as Whaling Walls around the world as part his mission for the conservation of ocean life.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was more than paint on a wall \u2014 it was part of my work, alongside the Wyland Foundation, to bring people together to protect our oceans and clean water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n