Autumn de Forest and Aussie Hair Care Team Up for Wynwood Walls Mural in Miami

Autumn de Forest may not yet be in college, but her paintings are already larger than life. She's shown her art in major museum and gallery exhibits, joined the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities at then-First Lady Michelle Obama's request, and started the Autumn de Forest Foundation to help bring art programs back to schools in need. (Is there any doubt why she's a member of our 21 Under 21 class of 2017?) But the artist's newest project isn't just larger than life metaphorically — it's literally larger than life. Because where do you go when you're an artist at the top of your game? Miami's famed Wynwood Walls, of course.

The 16-year-old game changer recently teamed up with Aussie Hair Care to dream up a mural inspired by the brand's Purple Lining initiative. The aim was simple: design a mural that celebrates the colorful side of life. So she and her team set out to collaborate on what would ultimately be Autumn's first-ever mural. Filled with reds, blues, and purples, the design features vines and roses bursting out of an Aussie Hair Care bottle and a prompt that viewers should "Be the color you wish to see in the world." Autumn even got the tree in front of the wall involved by wrapping its trunk and painting its cover, and filling its leaves with artificial blooms. Topping off the aesthetic were drippy paint strokes that go perfectly with an umbrella prop should you want to pose for the 'gram in front of the wall.

"The Purple Lining is about spreading positivity and just being able to have this light that you carry with you in your life, and the mural, I think, really embodies that," Autumn told Teen Vogue at the project's official unveiling on August 24. "[It's about] having the courage and the freedom to express yourself in whatever outlet you are the most passionate about."

Jenny Schnell, the assistant brand manager at Aussie, agrees. "As a haircare brand with a mission to bring the play back into beauty, Aussie is looking toward the next generation for inspiration on sparking playful and purposeful positivity in the world," she told Teen Vogue. "Finding the Purple Lining is Aussie’s take on life and encouragement to everyone to find the #AUSSome in anyone and anything. The goal is for women to share what their Purple Lining is and to encourage others to spread positivity by doing the same."

For Autumn, the purple lining is art itself — and Aussie is committed to supporting her work. Proceeds from Friday's pop-up shop at the mural went to the Autumn de Forest Foundation, which she started after she began to lose touch with the kids she met from her work with the President's Committee. "I wanted to check back like, 'How are you doing? Have you painted any more?'," she remembers after telling Teen Vogue about specific painting she still remembers from her visits with students around the country. As she explains, the foundation is "an online marketplace for these kids to express themselves and be recognized for their creativity," geared specifically so that students's family and friends can purchase their artwork and support their goals.