©2011 Precita Eyes Muralists
Directed by Susan Cervantes. Co-directed by Ariana Terrence and Kristin Keller in collaboration with students from the Canal Alliance Forwords Program.
There is a lot of culture in our community, but have you ever stopped and taken a look at it? Students from Canal Alliance did and they wanted to show it in a mural. They all came up with this great idea that not only shows their culture, but their lives. This little place, the Canal, is full of Hispanics. This place also has small proportions of every four corners of the world. This is not just some random drawing. It has a story.
People from other home countries migrated to the United States. They started as thirteen colonies. They fought for their independence from Great Britain and became the United States. The West Coast was a part of Mexico. Mexicans were already here in the United States, even in the Canal neighborhood area. The United States wanted to get bigger and conquered the West Coast. During the years the United States became stronger and everyone in the world wanted to have a little piece of the American Dream.
This is where our mural comes from, a little place called the Canal. People from the North, South, and Central America have migrated to the United States. Coming to the U.S. is not easy because people suffer by not eating, walking for days, and jumping the border to have a better future with their families. In the mural the kids playing soccer have mascots representing the different schools they go to in San Rafael, California. The cactus represents people who have traveled through the desert coming to the Canal. There is a road that turns into fabric that symbolizes the four corners of the world.
Down at the bottom of the flower, there is a book that says, "I like to go to the Canal Alliance" and "Learning is an achievement in life." This is what the students respect and look up to. The flower has two sides, a positive side, which is shown by the live leaves and a negative side, which is shown by the dead leaves. The leaves on the tree of the positive side have faces of our leaders. These leaders have changed our way of life. They have all given their lives for our better future. The leaders are Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Che Guevara, Pancho Villa and Rigoberta Menchu.
On the other side of the border there is an anti-gun meaning that we donÕt want any violence, only peace in the Canal. The heart symbolizes the lives that have passed away in the Canal and that wonÕt be forgotten. We put our native plant, the Pickleweed in the mural because we are surrounded by weeds. We are surrounded by the most famous bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge and we are also connected to the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge.
If you look up in the right hand corner of the mural you will see the earth that has a yin yang line in the middle that represents our earthÕs balance. Recycling is part of what we do at the Canal Alliance and what we are telling others to do to help our environment. We are still not there yet, but we are definitely going to get there in the future. The earth gives us the power and strength we need everyday.
The pyramid gives power to the earth which symbolizes the strength of our people and our ancient culture. You can see the roots of the pyramid in the lightning which are causing it to rise up.
In the central part of the mural there is the face of a beautiful woman. If you look into her right eye, you can see what the students want in their future- a diploma! In her left eye she cried because of stress and fear. Her face is made of many puzzle pieces of various colors of skin tones and races. She rises out of a sunflower that symbolizes hope for the future.
