User:Lceja dmorale3/sandbox

The Anahuac Mural
The Anahuac mural is a 400 feet (120m) mural on the two outside walls of public high school, Theodore Roosevelt High School, located in Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, CA. The mural portrays the heritage of the indigenous people (Nican Tlaca) of Anahuac (North and Central America). It is the longest mural in Los Angeles and largest mural on Mexican and Central American Heritage. It is a project of Nelyollotl who is a member of the Mexica movement.

The Artist
In 1996, Toltecatl began to work on the mural with the intention of depicting Chicano history and assimilation. About a year into the artwork, he attended a lecture by Tezcatlipoca, whose own views on history led to Nelyollotl to read radical interpretations of the American conquest. With this influence, Nelyollotl went back to the artwork and began to alter the original image he had decided to paint. He spent the next several years painting the Chicano history and assimilation of Chicanos in the United States.

The Mural
The Anahuac Mural depicts the peoples of Anahuac which in the Nahuatl Language means “land between the waters”. Anahuac was said to be located in what we know as current Mexico, Central America, and the Western United States. The Mural illustrates Spanish and indigenous colonial history from a unique perspective, shedding light on issues and history that is otherwise forgotten. The mural is a visual narrative.

It first started with a group of people rendered in a grayscale tone with their eyes closed. In other words it conveyed this group of people who were ignorant and enslaved in a modern day society, in the background there were small boats painted with iconic flags, which showed a cross for Christianity, a dollar sign for greed and a skull for death. As the mural progressed to the left, the group of people who were painted in black and white were now getting color, and the ones breaking away from this grayscale group had their eyes wide open. This transformation from black and white into color is a metaphor of the gaining knowledge of self, their true identity is being revealed as they gain color. Also, when the characters had gained full color they were morphing into indigenous people, dressed with cultural garments. Not only have they awaken but the people painted in full color now look stronger with great determination in their face.

Then as we get toward the middle of the block the mural goes from a black background to a saturated blue with indigenous religion symbols, where a mother holds a young baby in a centralized composition and underneath we see in small hand-painted typography architecture, mathematics, education, agriculture, writing, society and astronomy. The artist informs the viewers about the skills, talents and knowledge that the indigenous people possessed. When an individual is deeply rooted and knows who he is then he will flourish and grow both physically and spiritually. As we got close to the corner on will notice the cycle repeats itself. Again we had the grayscale group of people who were blending into full color painted characters. Some were painted in all grayscale but the only part of their body that was rendered in color was their brain. But as they progressed into fully being rendered in color, they were shown with books in their hands, as if the knowledge of self was leading them into this spiritual revelation and empowerment.

After this segment we are led to the corner of the school were the modern community unites with the indigenous people as a representation of honor and dignity. In big black letters it reads, “ANAHUAC, Our Future Belongs to us.”

The mural starts with an introduction of the indigenous people of Anahuac in which it explains their many contributions to our current society as well as provides a brief summary of the events leading to the elimination of these ancient civilizations. Following the introduction, the mural depicts an Olmeca stone head along with an illustration of the discovery of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) by the Nahua people whom had been sent on a mission to establish the capitol city based on the vision of seeing an eagle upon a cactus eating a serpent. From the image of the discovery of Mexico City, the mural further illustrates Aztec temples shadowed by a graphic depiction of the Spanish conquest in which it features images of battles between the Conquistadors and the Indigenous Jaguar Warriors.

Also depicted in the mural are famous Mexican revolutionaries including Miguel Hidalgo and Emiliano Zapata alongside Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo the artists. In addition to the many famous revolutionary people illustrated on the mural, solders and images of lynched Mexicans, conquistadors feeding children’s flesh to dogs, and the desecration of the indigenous people surround the mural and provide a different point of view to the conquest and colonial history commonly taught in schools. The Murals theme of indigenous solidarity and remembrance is portrayed throughout the walls and serves as a gateway into the past that was once shadowed by ignorance as it depicted on the mural itself.

On the opposite side of the mural the words “enslaved to ignorance” painted as knives cut through a large group of people whom unlike the rest of the mural are in black and white. Following the mural through the opposite side the image of a grey man with a book is shown transforming into an Aztec warrior with a weapon. The mural goes on to illustrate different types of warriors from different indigenous groups followed by an Olmeca symbol surrounded by the contributions and discoveries attributed to the ancient indigenous civilization. Both walls are met on the corner of 6th and Mott Street where the mural is titled Anahuac and combines both sides of the mural with a illustration of a futuristic ancient city for all Nican Tlaca peoples meaning the solidarity of all indigenous people. The 400 feet of wall are covered by amazing images and serves the community as both a piece of art as well as a history lesson.

Controversy
From the murals beginning in 1996 to its completion in 2003, the controversy surrounding the violent images of the lynching of Mexicans, children’s flesh being feed to dogs, and the hundreds of skulls illustrated throughout the piece caused many to protest the mural on the basis that it was deemed racist towards Europeans. Though the mural received much controversy for its portrayal of violence against the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America by the Spanish Conquistadors, the Mural’s artist along with many supporters such as the Mexica- Movement, the [|Los Angeles Unified School District] (LAUSD), administrators, students, and faculty of Roosevelt High School saw the mural as an opportunity to educate people of the historical events that are commonly never taught or talked about. The Anahuac Mural still currently stands along the 6th and Mott Street walls of Theodore Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles and goes through vigorous cleanings and touchups annually in order to be preserved due to vandalism.

Images
To see images of the mural, visit: http://www.anahuacmural.org/