L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective by Barbara Carrasco at Union Station

L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective by Barbara Carrasco at Union Station

Equal parts informing of history and politics to the people, empowering to the masses, and masterfully executed by the likes of Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros, just a few months ago my family and I were blown away by the murals of Mexico City. So of course we would be interested in the ¡Murales Rebeldes! L.A. Chicana/o Murals under Siege events related to the local Latin American and Latino Art shows of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. One of key pieces is Barbara Carrasco’s L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective.

Carrasco’s 43-panel mural, which is on display from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Sunday, October 22, was completed in 1981 to celebrate the city’s bicentennial and be shown at the 1984 Olympics. However, the very Community Revelopment Agency (CRA) that commissioned the piece to hang on 3rd and Broadway never showed it. Just a few of the unacceptable subjects included the whitewashing of David Alfaro Siqueiros’s America Tropical mural in 1932, the Japanese American concentration camps of WWII, and Zoot Suit riots involving American servicemen attacking Mexican American youth in 1943. Siqueiros’s piece is not more than a block away from Union Station!

The 80-feet-long piece did show for about two weeks in Union Station in 1990. Except for that span, the artist paid for storage and protected the piece after securing the rights from the CRA. As a result, the mural is in immaculate condition with colors that are as vibrant as they ever were. Some consolation for a glorious piece being censored and out of the public’s eye for so long!

You don’t have to be a contemporary art expert, social justice warrior, or local history junkie to appreciate the loving juxtaposition of activists and politicians such as Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Tom Bradley and icons such as the Dodgers’ beloved Fernando “The Bull” Valenzuela, Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos, proto political street artist Robbie Conal, and “Super Freak” Rick James along with melancholy nods to the Big Red Cars which were wiped out by the auto industry, Central California before the Owens Valley Aqueduct, and the Mexican neighborhoods that were bulldozed out to make space for Dodger Stadium. This is a perspective that everyone should see.

Get more information at muralesrebeldes.org and see L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective at Union Station through October 22.

Union Station Ticketing Concourse
800 North Alameda St.
Los Angeles