Multilingual Welcome Sign
The City of Falls Church, in collaboration with artists Sarah Guro, Christine Leigh, and Marc Robarge, partnered with the Falls Church City Council and Welcoming Falls Church to create a new Multilingual Welcome Sign at City Hall. This sign commemorates the 75th Anniversary of Falls Church, Virginia.
The artists designed a blossoming tree that grows above a collection of “welcome” greetings in various languages, arranged to resemble flowing water. The new Multilingual Welcome Sign at City Hall was officially unveiled and dedicated on December 9, 2024. It serves as a daily reminder of the community’s commitment to embody and uphold these welcoming ideals. This artwork reflects an extraordinary process of collaborative community engagement, realizing the City’s shared vision of inclusion, diversity, and environmental sustainability.
Artists & Collaborators:
- Sarah Guro, Art Teacher, Meridian High School
- Ms. Christine Leigh, Art Teacher, Meridian High School
- Mr. Marc Robarge, FCCPS Artist In Residence
- Fabricators: Gropen
- Translation: Liberty Language Services and Stony Brook University
- Collaborators: Welcoming Falls Church and Falls Church City Council
The “welcome” greeting in various languages seen on the sign artwork includes:
- Dogue/ East Coast Algonkian (Native American)
- Ukrainian
- Philippines/Tagalog
- Korean
- Iran & Afghanistan/ Pashto
- India & Pakistan/ Urdu
- Turkish
- Braille
- Nepal & India/ Hind
- Israel/ Hebrew
- Vietnamese
- Afghanistan & Persia/ Farsi, Dari
- Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Palestine, Libya/ Arabic
- Germany
- Spain & Mexico, Spanish
- Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo/Swahili
- United States/English
- France/ French
- Chinese
- Russian
