#17 - Peace and Remembrance
Location: Corner store on Trinity Street, 1013 S. Trinity at San Patricio Original date: February 2001 Original artists: Katy Bone, Angela Ibarra, Julie Ibarra, Crystal Torres, Janette Torres, Patti Radle Dimensions: 57'5" x 12" |
An all-female team of twelve and thirteen year old artists designed and painted this mural to honor Westside victims of inner-city violence, including drive-by shootings, gang violence, and domestic violence. Each name painted into the mural represents a community member. The mural’s overarching theme is peace, which the artists communicate through religious symbols like the dove, Jesus leaving the cross, the Virgin of San Juan, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and St. Francis holding a bird. Artists also included scenes from their barrio, including Lanier High School, basketball courts, buildings, and a city park. Every year on Dia de los Muertos, San Anto Cultural Arts makes a procession from its Centro on El Paso and Chupaderas to the Peace and Remembrance mural, where community members add a new name to the wall and celebrates the lives of their loved ones.
Content and Design
“On the bricks of this last section will be the names of those who have died from violence. On the roots of the tree will be quotes from people about peace and violence. The altar on the far right above the pond is in remembrance of Chucky since the wall had been dedicated to him before. We hope to have on the wall places where people can leave flowers.” |
The mural crew came up with the design for Peace and Remembrance by brainstorming images that would make people think of peace, including parks, supportive friends, and religious symbols like the Lady of Guadalupe. Starting from the upper right corner of the mural, a line of people process towards a shrine for the Virgin of San Juan. These characters represent the diversity of the Westside community, united by memories of their loved ones. The pond in the bottom right corner of the mural comes from a design drawing by Julie Ibarra, who wrote: “This park is for people who want to share their peace.” St. Francis stands in a little rock alcove by the pond, holding a bird and watching over the animals.
A log fastened to the tree in the center of the mural makes a cross. Jesus stands on the other side, stepping down from the cross to answer the violence committed against him with love. He releases a dove, a symbol of peace, from his open and outstretched hands. The dove flies over buildings and basketball courts, features of the Westside community. The dove flies towards an Aztec sun, which shines with the names of mural artists and of community members lost their lives to violence. The colorful bricks on the far left of the mural each hold a name.
Below ground, quotes about love and loss run along the tree roots:
The mural crew came up with the design for Peace and Remembrance by brainstorming images that would make people think of peace, including parks, supportive friends, and religious symbols like the Lady of Guadalupe. Starting from the upper right corner of the mural, a line of people process towards a shrine for the Virgin of San Juan. These characters represent the diversity of the Westside community, united by memories of their loved ones. The pond in the bottom right corner of the mural comes from a design drawing by Julie Ibarra, who wrote: “This park is for people who want to share their peace.” St. Francis stands in a little rock alcove by the pond, holding a bird and watching over the animals.
A log fastened to the tree in the center of the mural makes a cross. Jesus stands on the other side, stepping down from the cross to answer the violence committed against him with love. He releases a dove, a symbol of peace, from his open and outstretched hands. The dove flies over buildings and basketball courts, features of the Westside community. The dove flies towards an Aztec sun, which shines with the names of mural artists and of community members lost their lives to violence. The colorful bricks on the far left of the mural each hold a name.
Below ground, quotes about love and loss run along the tree roots:
“Adios, hermanos, los vemos en los sueños.”
-Lala Cantu
“The life and death of each of us has its influence on others. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord.”
-Romans 14:7-8
“All you need is love.”
-John Lennon
“As our community grows, we would love to see it grow with LOVE not violence.”
-Rosalinda Espinosa Cisneros and Nancy Estrada
History
Patti Radle, co-director of Inner City Development, initiated this mural project. The crew was a group of middle school girls that collaborated on Flower Power two years earlier. The young artists knew the mural was going to be a memorial for Westside victims of inner city violence, but were empowered to design and paint the mural on their own. Through a series of sketches and planning sessions, they came up with a final design for the mural. The crew began by whitewashing the wall, then sketching out the mural, and finally painting in the images.
The wall itself has a complicated story. In the 90s, neighborhood teens spray painted a small mural onto the same convenience store wall in memory of Charles “Chucky” Hernandez. Chucky had been the victim of a violent death in the barrio. A year and a half before Peace and Remembrance, that mural was painted over and the wall quickly filled with tagging and graffiti. The artists wanted to preserve the wall’s dedication to Chucky, and so painted his name in the center of a flower near the lake. At the mural blessing, community members with loved ones on the wall shared stories, memories, and reflections, and gathered to place flowers in front of the wall. Father Marty blessed the mural with holy water and a group of Aztec dancers performed a traditional dance.
Since that first mural blessing, San Anto Cultural Arts has made a yearly Dia de los Muertos procession to the Peace and Remembrance mural. For the first several years, the procession began and ended at San Jacinto Senior Homes. Since San Anto acquired the 2120 El Paso building in 2010, the Centro has been home base for the procession. Every year, the procession adds at least one new name to the mural. San Anto Cultural Arts has partnered with the Peace Initiative, an organization founded by Patricia Castillo to prevent and respond to domestic violence. Patricia supplies names for the wall so that Peace and Remembrance honors many victims of domestic violence. The procession and the mural are not meant to perpetuate grief, but to invite people to share and celebrate their loved one’s lives. Every event includes time to sing, dance, tell stories, and place photographs of family and friends on the Dia de Muertos Community Altar.
Janette Torres and Crystal Tamez, sisters who worked on the mural at ages 13 and 15, reflect on their experiences with Peace and Remembrance:
The wall itself has a complicated story. In the 90s, neighborhood teens spray painted a small mural onto the same convenience store wall in memory of Charles “Chucky” Hernandez. Chucky had been the victim of a violent death in the barrio. A year and a half before Peace and Remembrance, that mural was painted over and the wall quickly filled with tagging and graffiti. The artists wanted to preserve the wall’s dedication to Chucky, and so painted his name in the center of a flower near the lake. At the mural blessing, community members with loved ones on the wall shared stories, memories, and reflections, and gathered to place flowers in front of the wall. Father Marty blessed the mural with holy water and a group of Aztec dancers performed a traditional dance.
Since that first mural blessing, San Anto Cultural Arts has made a yearly Dia de los Muertos procession to the Peace and Remembrance mural. For the first several years, the procession began and ended at San Jacinto Senior Homes. Since San Anto acquired the 2120 El Paso building in 2010, the Centro has been home base for the procession. Every year, the procession adds at least one new name to the mural. San Anto Cultural Arts has partnered with the Peace Initiative, an organization founded by Patricia Castillo to prevent and respond to domestic violence. Patricia supplies names for the wall so that Peace and Remembrance honors many victims of domestic violence. The procession and the mural are not meant to perpetuate grief, but to invite people to share and celebrate their loved one’s lives. Every event includes time to sing, dance, tell stories, and place photographs of family and friends on the Dia de Muertos Community Altar.
Janette Torres and Crystal Tamez, sisters who worked on the mural at ages 13 and 15, reflect on their experiences with Peace and Remembrance:
“It wasn't necessarily sad while we were doing it; it was more emotional seeing how it affected people when we were done. Like people cried when they saw their families' names on it...they can walk up to the mural and touch it and have a vigil, like a memorial site, and it was right there in their neighborhood. We didn't realize how powerful what we were doing could be for people. We just thought oh we're just painting a cool picture ...It was just visually something appealing until we saw the reactions of people.” |
“The first public piece was Flower Power, we did flowers, we were innocent. Our next mural, Peace and Remembrance, was for people we actually know who were murdered or killed through violence. Our innocence [is] the Flower Power, but what really goes on is Peace and Remembrance...but they let us put our work up there and you can tell obviously children did it, you know, the man looks like a woman with a beard but you know that was our work, we were so excited all the time to see it. We were all happy. I drove by it today and I was like, ‘Lord! I thought that was so good.’ That was fun, that was fun.” |
Names on the Wall
On colored bricks
- Celia Sanchez
- Coche Cantu
- Derek Cerda
- Charles Guerra
- Juan Torres
- Rudy C. Perez
- John V. Perez
- David Rangel
- Rodolfo Perez
- Maria “La Toya” Hernandez
- Henry Chavez
- J. Nicolas Guajardo
- Benito Maciel
- Carlos Wilson
- Charles Hernandez
- Ernesto Caballero
- Lenny Garza
- Rafael Noriega
- Ralph “Cubby” Contreras
- Robert Amador
- Raul Quintanilla
- Mike Y. Puga
- Roberto Torres
- Christina Estrada
- Ricky Flores
- Mark D. Garcia
- Tony Rivas
- Roger Espinoza
- Mary B. Perez
- Jesus “Chuy” Sandoval
- Rolanda Hernandez
- Mike “Caveman” Rodriguez
- Alejandro “Honda” Garcia
- Jennifer Garza
- Sandra lee DeLeon
- Daniel Dominguez
- Charles J. Sandoval
- Elvis Chris Aranda
- Wes Hernandez
- Arturo V. L. Ortiz
- Pancho Nieto
- David C. Bittain
- Casandra Lopez
- Juan Jose “Wero” Sarabia
- Mike Lucio
- Daniel Obregon
- Joe “Cheche” Perez Jr.
- Sandra Lee DeLeon
- Jessica T. Duran - victim of domestic violence; passed away March 29, 2011
- Elias Alva
On the Sun
- Rosa Rosado
- Elizabeth Luna
- Steven Maldonado
- Jackie Martinez
- Guadalupe
- Rebecca “Veggie”
- Samvastion “Sammy”
- Pamela Wenske
- Daniel Tylee
- Elsa Estrada
- Natalie Oviedo - victim of domestic violence; passed away on December 13, 2007 at age 13
- Nazaryn Oviedo - victim of domestic violence; passed away on December 12, 2007 at age 6
- Amanda Carmona
- Sabrina “Bree Bree” Flores - killed while protecting a friend in an incident of dating violence; passed away on May 20, 2009 at age 16
- Efrain Salazar Jr.
- Rudy “Scoobey” Contreras
- Edward “Toons” Buentello
- John Rodriguez
- Iris Rodriguez
- Raul Hernandez
- Lisa “Mary Liz” Alaniz
- Edward Escobedo
- Judy Trevino
- Silent Joe
- Ram Ayala (Tacoland)
- Doug Morgan
On the Banner
- Lisa Marie Trevino
On the Ridge
- Tomika Chezell Coleman - victim of domestic violence; passed away November 15, 2009
- Romaldo G. Mufo
Painted into Wall
- Chucky [Charles Hernandez]
- Jonathan M. Vargaz (Oct 22 1978 - June 2, 2011)
- Albert Delgado
- Adrian “Epik” Rangel