The culture of California has long been intertwined with the peoples of Mexico, Central America, South America, and Spain.  For more than fifty years the Mission District has been the home for San Francisco’s Latino community. There are many murals in the Mission which reflect themes of Latino heritage and social struggle.  This type of public art can be traced back to three famous Mexican muralists: David Siqueiros, Jose Orozco, and Diego Rivera.

            During the 1970s a collective of four women, Patricia Rodriguez, Graciela Carrillo, Consuelo Mendez, and Irene Perez, began painting murals in the Mission.  They were breaking new ground, in that muralists to that point had been predominantly men. Masculine themes were often about politics and violence; Las Mujeres Muralistas, as they were called, broke the stereotypes that women were not physically or psychologically capable of creating murals, that women could not build and climb on scaffolding, and that women could not tolerate the criticism of the random passerby. Not only did they disprove the muralist stereotypes, but they also brought new themes and new messages to their community in their work.

             Las Mujeres Muralistas depicted Chicana women of San Francisco and Latina women from all around the globe.  They celebrated everything women do: women in the marketplace, women breastfeeding, women doing art. They celebrated how vital women are to the family, to the community, to the economy, and how beautiful women are.  They expanded political public art to include nature, culture and the family.

            In this collection, the use of color is a new way of dressing. In previous collections, I have used more muted color palettes. The choice of using a brighter, more vibrant color palette was something I was apprehensive about at first but it felt empowering to create pieces that had a voice and were bold and noticeable. I wanted to convey the voice of these women muralists. A lot of the colors I used were primary colors.

      Las Mujeres Muralistas were able to bring attention to all these emotions and topics in their mural work. This collection has inspired me to celebrate women and their voices in my work more visually and experimentally.