¡Murales Rebeldes!: L.A. Chicana/Chicano Murals under Siege

By Erin M. Curtis, Jessica Hough, and Guisela Latorre

Foreword and Afterword by Gustavo Arellano

The Chicano Civil Rights Movement (El Movimiento) of the 1960s and 1970s protested the social, political, and educational inequalities in Mexican American communities across the country, primarily in the Southwest. Chicana/Chicano muralists also took to the streets—with their art—creating works that expressed cultural pride, embodied political activism, and challenged the status quo. On walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools, and other community structures, they painted their interpretations of Chicana/o heritage and identity. In Los Angeles and its environs, Chicana/o murals reinvigorated and transformed communities, expanding into new genres and locations.

¡Murales Rebeldes!: L.A. Chicana/Chicano Murals under Siege tells the stories of eight Chicana/o murals from the 1970s to the 1990s. All have endured a lack of recognition—as works of art, as acts of personal expression, and as voices with social, historical, or political relevance. Some of the murals still exist—in both preserved and decaying states—while others have been whitewashed, censored, neglected, and even destroyed.

¡Murales Rebeldes! recounts the time, place, and conditions under which these works were created, and celebrates the artistic and personal contributions of muralists David Botello, Barbara Carrasco, Yreina D. Cervántez, Roberto Chavez, Ernesto de la Loza, Wayne Alaniz Healy, Willie Herrón, Alma López, Sergio O’Cadiz, and George Yepes.