Today's MLK Day Google Doodle Was Created by a Boston Artist

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Monday, Jan. 19, marks the annual remembrance of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Helping to put MLK Day in the forefront of computer users' and mobile device frequenters' minds is local artist Ekua Holmes, who created today's Google Doodle.

It's a depiction of King walking hand-in-hand with protesters during a demonstrative march in Selma, Alabama.

According to her website, Holmes works out of the Piano Craft Guild on Tremont Street in the South End. A native of Roxbury, Holmes focuses much of her work around "the joys and challenges" of her childhood as seen through the eyes of an adult, often in the form of a collage against the background of urban life.

The Boston Globe reports that Holmes had no idea she was tapped to showcase her work on Google's homepage when the email found its way into her inbox, giving her some much wanted publicity (Google is one of the top trafficked websites in the world).

Holmes graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 1977 and has recently been displaying some of her work at Harvard and Rivier College, as well as serving as a community coordinator for MassArt.

"My goal is that the exploration of the very personal vision enriches and completes a wide social context, while playing with the tension between the very flat medium of collage and an articulated sense of depth," explains Holmes on her website.

Google has published over 2,000 doodles from artists spanning every corner of the globe. The team of doodlers then decides on a moment to celebrate and how best to exemplify that. She told the Globe they found her "somewhere on the Internet."

Congratulations to Ekua Holmes for having her work showed off on the world stage. For those of you celebrating the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., be sure to keep in mind this list of what's open and what's closed on Monday.