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Great Wall Institute: The Process of the Great Wall of Los Angeles Main Menu Research of the Decades Research 1960s Illustration Development Illustration Development Playlists of the Decades Playlists Great Wall Institute - Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)

Mural Movement and Establishment of SPARC

Emerging in the 1960s and 70s, the Chicano art movement was deeply intertwined with the broader Chicano civil rights movement. This artistic renaissance sought to reclaim cultural identity, challenge racial stereotypes, and confront social injustices faced by Mexican-American communities. Printmaking played a pivotal role as a form of political art, allowing artists to produce works efficiently and inexpensively that broadcasted activist messaging and spread cultural pride. Self Help Graphics and Art (SHG) was the epicenter of political printmaking, its original location on Cesar Chavez and Gage depicted here bearing a portrait honoring Sister Karen Boccalero, who co-founded the organization in 1970. As part of the work artists engaged to reclaim spiritual and artistic heritage, SHG was also partially responsible for bringing the Dia de los Muertos tradition to Los Angeles, with street processions, ofrendas and celebrations, they established a US tradition that continues to thrive and expand in the US today. A calavera in the style of José Guadalupe Posada, a renowned Mexican printmaker and illustrator from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is depicted at the head of the procession. Posada's calaveras deeply influenced the imagery of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), inspiring Chicano artists and printmakers.

Murals were another important expression of the Chicano art movement. They transformed public spaces into vibrant canvases that celebrated Mexican-American heritage and addressed pressing social issues. Neighborhoods like East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, and Highland Park became hubs for this artistic revolution. The legacy of Mexican muralists like David Alfaro Siqueiros, who is portrayed in front of his controversial mural América Tropical that resurfaced as a symbol of resistance, inspired Chicano artists to develop their own visual and aesthetic language.

From highways to housing projects, murals played an essential part in the development of community values, pride, and social change. Estrada Courts, a housing project in Boyle Heights, is internationally recognized and respected for its vibrant collection of Chicano murals painted throughout the decade. Reflecting the Chicano barrio culture, spiritual traditions that integrate Mesoamerican and catholic imagery, and protest statements linked to civil rights era demands, the mural clusters established a profoundly unique iconography evocative of both its socio-political context and formal aesthetic qualities.

This movement inspired Judith F. Baca’s monumental project, The Great Wall of Los Angeles, a historic cultural landmark, narrating the rich history of California's ethnic communities. The Great Wall of LA began in 1974 when the Army Corps of Engineers approached Judith F. Baca to create a mural in the Tujunga Flood Control Channel in the San Fernando Valley. Spanning several summers, the project employed over 400 youth from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and involved artists, oral historians, ethnographers, scholars, and community members. Baca also co-founded SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center), an organization that championed the creation of dozens of murals across Los Angeles, employing countless artists and honoring the city's diverse communities through monuments of memory.

In San Diego, Chicano Park serves as another iconic testament to the mural art tradition. The historic Mexican neighborhood of Barrio Logan was cut off from ocean access by the construction of Interstate 5 and the San-Diego Coronado Bridge in the 1960s. In 1970, the city of San Diego made plans to construct a CHP patrol station under the Coronado Bridge. The community occupied the land of the proposed site, peacefully protesting and planting trees to claim the land. The city backed off after the twelve-day occupation and agreed that the land would be made into a park. Mural painting on the concrete supports began in 1973, and new murals have been added ever since.

In the mural, this rich legacy of Chicano/a/x art making is shown with a large portrait of David Alfaro Siqueiros in front of his mural América Tropical. Behind América Tropical are a few murals from Estrada Courts, which sit on the banks of the Tujunga Wash above Judy Baca and her youth team painting the Great Wall of LA. Downtown LA, East LA, the San Fernando Valley, and Barrio Logan all come together to highlight the Chicano/a/x world of Southern California in the 1970s. On the opposite bank of the Tjunga Wash, Self Help Graphics is holding their annual Día de los Muertos celebration next to the printmakers’ original building, which has the portrait of Sister Karen Boccalero imposed onto it. The section ends with a few murals from Chicano Park.

Sources:

CSUN. “Murals in Los Angeles.” CSUN University Library, May 07, 2024. https://library.csun.edu/sca/peek-stacks/murals.

Fuentes, Ed. “The Mural is the New Chicano.” PBS, November 15, 2011. https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/the-mural-is-the-new-chicano.

Gunckel, Colin. Self Help Graphics & Art: Art in the Heart of East Los Angeles. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press, 2014. https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780895511546/self-help-graphics-and-art/.

Scott, Adrian. “Estrada Courts: Painted at the height of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, the Estrada Courts murals enlivened the 1942 garden apartment complex.” LA Conservancy. Accessed July 21, 2025. https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/estrada-courts.

SPARC. “Great Wall of Los Angeles.” Social and Public Art Resource Center. Accessed July 21, 2025. https://sparcinla.org/programs/the-great-wall-mural-los-angeles/.

USC. “Robin Dunitz Slides of Los Angeles Murals, 1925-2002.” USC Libraries, Accessed July 21, 2025. https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1O04E1?&WS=SearchResults.

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1974 The Great Wall of Los Angeles 1974 The Great Wall of Los Angeles is one of Los Angeles’ true cultural landmarks and one of the country’s most respected and largest monuments to inter-racial harmony. SPARC’s first public art project and its true signature piece, the Great Wall is a landmark pictorial representation of the history of ethnic peoples of California from prehistoric times to the 1950’s, conceived by SPARC’S artistic director and founder Judy Baca. Begun in 1974 and completed over five summers, the Great Wall employed over 400 youth and their families from diverse social and economic backgrounds working with artists, oral historians, ethnologists, scholars, and hundreds of community members.

This page references:

Artists working at Self Help Graphics in East LA during the 1970s (Self Help Graphics and Art). People working at Self Help Graphics in East LA during the 1970s (Self Help Graphics and Art). The evolution SHG’s focus on printmaking as its core discipline grew throughout the 1970s and by 1979 the programs became increasingly experimental, in the printmaking studio and in other media, including music and performance art. During the 1980s, SHG earned its reputation as a locus for the emerging Chicano and Latino artists and cultural movements. Sister Karen passed away in 1997 and facilities and financial management continued to impart the organization’s health during the twenty-first century. A significant revival has been in process since 2007, including a major relocation from the former headquarters on Cesar Chavez Avenue to a new location in Boyle Heights, adjacent to downtown Los Angeles. https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/history.
"Medusa’s Head," was painted by Judy on the doors of Wabash Recreation Center, Boyle Heights in 1973 (SPARC Archives).
"Chicano Park Takeover" was painted by Felipe Adame in 1978 to celebrate the creation of Chicano Park (UCSD Library).