iMedia: Pilsen Mural

           

I went on a field trip to Pilsen, a neighborhood located in Chicago, for my Latin America class. Many artists lived in Pilsen until a few years ago. However, the murals that they painted still remain on the wall.

            When I saw a mural on the street, I never looked at it closely. I thought it was simply just a painting that people just drew. However, from this field trip, I learned that a mural has a lot of meaning behind it. The muralist painted the symbols of what they wanted to tell people.

             The mural on the left is my favorite. When I looked at it at first, I could not understand what message the muralist was trying to relay. However, when I looked at it closely and thought about the symbols that he painted, all the ideas came together in my mind. The eagle symbolizes Mexico, and the ribbons symbolize different religions and countries. The tree that is pointing to the earth shows that immigrants are trying to lay their roots down in America. The ribbons are covering the people, because they do not have a freedom to say, see, or protect them. Since the muralist was Mexican, he tried to tell people that immigrants did not have these rights even though Constitution states that they should.

            Even though Pilsen is only located only 30 minutes away from Glenview, the atmosphere of the neighborhood is very different. More immigrants from Mexico are living in Pilsen. Therefore I could see Mexico’s culture through different murals. Most of the murals display messages from immigrants. Since I am an immigrant, the murals were familiar and I could understand the meanings. They try to tell their hopes and dreams in America.