Michelle Obama Mural: Former First Lady's Image In A Korean Dress On Full Display In Chicago

A huge new mural in Chicago's West Side features former first lady Michelle Obama in a traditional Korean dress. The mural, which was completed in late July, is on large brick building that houses Korean restaurant Perilla, and was commissioned by the owners.

Located at 401 N. Milwaukee Ave., the mural shows Obama smiling in a maroon hanbok in front of a full moon. A hanbok is a dress for semiformal and formal attire, and is worn by both women and men in Korea.

Los Angeles artist Chris Chanyang Shim said many people suggested he paint a mural of Obama after he announced plans for a piece in Chicago, despite the fact that he typically avoids famous subjects.

“I usually try not to paint somebody famous, because I always say ‘Its nobody, and everybody’ when people came to ask me who's I'm painting,” Shim said in a Facebook post. “She's everybody. That's why everybody loves her. I wish the painting reminds people of hope.”

Andrew Lim and Tom Oh, the restaurant's owners, wanted Obama to be the subject of the mural.

"We are so proud of this amazing human being, who happens to be a Chicagoan," Lim and Oh told local Book Club Chicago.

Obama was born and raised in the South Side, eventually meeting her husband, former President Barack Obama, while working at the Chicago-based Sidley Austin law firm.

This isn’t the first time that Obama has been the subject of a mural in her hometown. A mural in the South Shore neighborhood, on the corner of 74th Street and Chappel Avenue depicts her as an Egyptian queen.