Inspiration - The first time I visited Chicano Park, I was taken aback at how beautiful it all really was. I have looked at photos previously, but nothing could have prepared me for how grandiose, gorgeous, and powerful it all was. The concrete freeway supports, brightly colored with potent murals, arch overhead and cascade you in emotion and story. You can truly feel how this park is a community center, a place of peace but also a place to reflect, think, ponder, and feel resistance towards the system that wrongfully disrupts immigrant’s lives and displaces them with ill will. This was my inspiration for this piece. In the center of this vaguely urban looking landscape, there is a spot of brightness, representing Chicano Park. I could never emulate the beauty of the murals here, however I took inspiration from their bright colors to try and properly portray the park as best as possible.
Outside of the park, the city is dull and colorless, representing the struggle that many immigrants and refugees face. However, like with people, even though the outside may look rough, on the inside there is heart, there is hope, there is community and there is love. The silhouettes of the Coronado Bridge and I-5 freeway are like blood vessels, arteries, connecting the community and providing it with soul.
Artistic process - I chose to use watercolor for this piece, as it better defines the fluidity of identity and society. In order to stand out, I used more bold, dark colors for the highway and bridge, despite them being much lighter in real life. I really wanted to emphasize the connection between the heart and body of this community. I used the dullest, most monotone colors for the areas of the city outside of the park in order to draw less attention to it, only to be noticed a little later while observing the painting, seeing the slight definition of buildings, trees, and houses underneath little blobs of pastel blue and muddy green. The brightest, most obvious were used for Chicano Park, with inspiration coming from the murals there. I attempted to smudge some bits together in order to merge it all together as a final step.
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