Oaxacalifornia dreaming: L.A. library mural project looks at a visual language that transcends borders
The boy is a Dreamer. A student. A graffiti tagger. A traveler. An artist.
He’s 6, maybe 7 years old, and his future is uncertain. A tattooed teardrop stains one of his cheeks, and he clutches a Sharpie and some other pens as he gazes into the distance with large brown eyes, his shorts hanging loose and low on his hips. He will in one way or another make his mark.
The image of the boy appears in a series of eight murals titled “For the Pride of Your Hometown, the Way of the Elders, and in Memory of the Forgotten” by the Oaxacan artist collective Tlacolulokos. Recently installed in the domed rotunda of the Los Angeles Public Library downtown, they’re the latest example of Latino and Latin American artists exploring the history and under-representation of the region’s indigenous peoples.
The location of the Tlacolulokos murals is a pointed statement unto itself: They hang directly below narrative murals about California’s early history created in 1933 by Dean Cornwell, whose pastel renderings show Native Americans bowing down to European colonialists. Tlacolulokos’ vibrant burgundy and gold hues scream against Cornwell’s quiet palette. The new murals say: “I have a voice. Listen up. I am here.”