"Shared Roots (Unity Threatens Inequity)"
2018
aerosol enamel on brick
(left half)
This is the left half of two murals for the City of Los Angeles, produced with the support of ArtShare LA and Meta Housing on the exterior of an affordable housing project in South Central L.A., just below the DTLA Fashion District.
The initial inspiration for the agricultural theme of these murals came from a neighboring community farm run by Roots For Peace and the All Peoples Community Center.
Farming/gardening imagery can carry extra significance in this context considering how much of South Central lacks easy access to healthy fresh food.
"This figure was modeled by Rigoberto Jimenez Oropeza, a Los Angeles resident who grows food from the soil. Rigo began his workers' rights activism long ago with the United Farm Workers after being hospitalized for exposure to pesticides while working in California orange fields. Now in his 80s, he is still stubbornly working the land when not helping out with his son's art gallery.
The choice of subjects came about partly in response to our current social/political climate, as well as a more local history of poverty and black-brown conflict in South Central Los Angeles.
In these confusing times of demagoguery, racist scapegoating and social division, as wealth has been increasingly redistributed upward while the working poor are further disenfranchised, I feel even more urgency to create conscientious and relatable public art that elevates common people and promotes ideals of compassion, unity, equity, and interracial solidarity.
I would like to think of these murals as contributing to a tradition of social realist art that promotes the importance and dignity of ordinary working people".
The initial inspiration for the agricultural theme of these murals came from a neighboring community farm run by Roots For Peace and the All Peoples Community Center.
Farming/gardening imagery can carry extra significance in this context considering how much of South Central lacks easy access to healthy fresh food.
"This figure was modeled by Rigoberto Jimenez Oropeza, a Los Angeles resident who grows food from the soil. Rigo began his workers' rights activism long ago with the United Farm Workers after being hospitalized for exposure to pesticides while working in California orange fields. Now in his 80s, he is still stubbornly working the land when not helping out with his son's art gallery.
The choice of subjects came about partly in response to our current social/political climate, as well as a more local history of poverty and black-brown conflict in South Central Los Angeles.
In these confusing times of demagoguery, racist scapegoating and social division, as wealth has been increasingly redistributed upward while the working poor are further disenfranchised, I feel even more urgency to create conscientious and relatable public art that elevates common people and promotes ideals of compassion, unity, equity, and interracial solidarity.
I would like to think of these murals as contributing to a tradition of social realist art that promotes the importance and dignity of ordinary working people".
A collection of murals by EL MAC.
All images copyright MAC ART LLC ©MMXXII