I saw a picture of this garage mural online and just had to get a shot of it, but despite much searching, I simply couldn’t find an address for it other than in some Adams Morgan alley. Finally, I found a tweet about it from last year, went through all the comments and was able to get a general area for the alley. Turns out we had been there in the past to photograph two other murals before this one was painted.

According to the dcist website, it was created for DC resident and federal government worker Suzanne Allan, who got the idea of using her home as a canvas when Trump took office. She spray-painted “Dump Trump” on her home’s roof, hoping it would be seen by federal officials traveling over the city by helicopter. That was eventually replaced with “FUBAR 45,” the military slang for “f****d up beyond all recognition.” She then hired long-time street artist Juan Pineda to create something promoting DC statehood for her garage.

For many D.C. residents, rats are a scourge — a legendary one that city officials go to significant lengths to exterminate. But Allan turned what scares people most about rats into what she says is a symbol of strength. “I came up with the idea of featuring a rat because [the mural is] on an alley, and that grew into a ratzilla rising out of the darkness to take on the fight for statehood and encouraging others to join the pack,” she says.

Ratzilla appears on a DC license plate, which says, “End taxation without representation” since we pay federal taxes but have no voting senators or representatives in Congress because we’re not a state, but rather a federal district. The District of Columbia would be the country’s 51st state.

Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by PBase are decidedly unsharp.

Lotus in its prime, posted earlier: