For the first post of 2024, I wanted to address another mural movement, the Chicano Mural Movement (1960s). The artists were Mexican Americans, who spread their culture drawing cultural heros and stories of their origins. They began these powerful paintings for their civil rights movement, which proved as a gathering tool to draw attention to other Mexican Americans/Latinos in the area. The Chicano murals brought attention towards their story and became seen as "politicized art", which eventually led to the effect of the creation of ethnic studies within the culture. Through these ethnic studies, the Chicano murals became a sign of social progress that challenged racism within the U.S.
Similar to the Chilean Murals, these murals were a sign of protest, not from the oppressive government but from oppresion from racism. The Chicano murals were created before the Chilean murals. Both Chilean and Chicano murals originate from Latin America, and they have some similarities between thier actual artwork. They both include bright colors and day to day activites featuring their own culture. However, the Chilean style (1980s) includes less realistic portrayals of people and internal emotion/culture, unlike the realistic style of the Chicano murals which highlight solely on culture. However, they do have very similar pieces. The first piece above is similar to the one below, where they both utilize the idea of mulitple people to show diversity in their culture and beliefs. Although the color pallete of the Chicano murals are more realistic and true to skin, both murals express the warmth and expression of the people and show power in numbers.
