This is one of the classic Chicano murals, important for its style, location and message. It was painted in 1978 by the Congreso de Artistas Chicanos en Aztlan. The location of the mural is the Estrada Courts housing project in East Los Angeles. The residents of that housing project took it upon themselves to decorate their own homes with colorful, artistic and politically significant murals which became a very important feature of the Chicano Movement.
Among the early Tucson muralists was Antonio Pazos. Pazos did several important murals in the 1970s, including the ones shown here. Like many other mural artists, Pazos often obtained grants to work with neighborhood youth, involving them in the planning and execution of the work. Pazos still lives and works in the Tucson area.
Wall by Antonio Pazos and Tucson High Students on the Perfection Plumbing Building, South Park Avenue, around 1979. Photo 1981. This wall, which was painted over later in the 1980s, consists of a catalogue of images related to being young and Chicano in 1970s Tucson. Disparate images of social, political, religious and historical identity are grouped around the central organizing figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
"La Familia" by Antonio Pazos, 1975, at El Rio Neighborhood Center, 1390 West Speedway, 1990 photo. In this early mural, Pazos surrounds his family with the Plumed Serpent, a Mexican pyramid, and the Black Eagle of the Farmworkers Movement to suggest a continuity from prehispanic days to the present.
Untitled mural by Antonio Pazos and Estevan Mireles with neighborhood youth, 1979, at Oury Recreation Center, 600 West St. Mary's Road. Photo April, 1987. This is an early youth project which includes a wide range of images of identity - San Xavier Mission, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and images from prehistoric, Spanish and Revolutionary Mexico.
Back to the MEChA de Tejaztlan home page