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Chicano Murals in Los Angeles

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Murals are the quintessential public art embodying the spirit of the community in which they are created. They say this is who we are, this is what we think, this is where we come from, and this is what we want, reflecting most clearly any changes in the sociopolitical environment. Murals lay out a powerful visual image of the ideology of their creators or sponsors, be it the Church during the Renaissance, government funded projects, or individuals expressing opposition. In Mexico, after the Mexican Revolution of 1917, the government commissioned a vast number of mural projects to transmit its revisionist history of the country, and celebrate the empowerment of the underclass in their recent victory. Predominate themes were cultural …show more content…

The creation of murals or any art, for that matter, was in rapid decline. Mexican's at this time were abandoning most of their earlier values, as they were increasingly drawn into the struggle of assimilation, Americanization, and modernization, at all costs. The Mexican community was entrenched in a repressive Anglo-dominated society. It was out of this oppression that the dawn of new revolution was taking shape and bringing with it a resurgence of Mexican art as it transformed to define the identity of Mexican Americans as Chicano.
The Chicano Movement began as a grassroots organization to unite and represent the farm workers of California, primarily composed of Mexican Americans, with the United Farm Workers (UFW) union spearheaded by Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta. As the movement took shape it "developed into two overlapping directions, one emphasizing cultural identity and the other political action (Cockcroft 1)." Along with demonstrations, strikes, and marches associated with the political movement their came an explosion of cultural expression. It was also during this time that the term Chicano was more formally established as an identifier of ethnic pride rising up out of el movimiento, the Chicano Movement. The term evokes a strong sense of political association involving identification with the history of Mexico and la raza – the people. As the movement solidified, the voice of la raza

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