A deep dive into the many works of the prolific Chicana Muralist Judy Baca.

1. C h i c a n o
e x c e l l e n c e i n
m u r a l i s m
Xa v i e r Ad a m e

2. Background
Muralism is one of the most dramatic display
of artistic expression that has been around
for many generations. Muralism is the act
of erected large-scale pieces of artwork on
public walls and buildings, not to be
confused with graffiti that has its own
cultural significance in the Californian art
scene. In relation to Mexican muralism,
which was made with the main purpose of
conveying Mexican liberation ideals,
Chicano muralism is a movementmainly
popularized in the 1960-70s that
blossomed in Eastern California that
continuesto be seen in many parts of
America.
PRESENTATION TITLE 2
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC.

3. Judy Baca
• In thispresentation,Iwillanalyzeanddescribe
a few of the manyartworksof one of themost
prolificChicanamuralistintheLos Angelesart
scene, JudyBaca.
• JudyBacaisa nativeEasternCalifornian
that’scontributedtothe artsandhumanitiesin
LA andhasworkedin manyartprojectsthataim
to unitethe impoverishedareasof her city
through her-selffoundedSPARCorganizationor
Social andPublicArtsReasearch Center.
• Judybecame one of thefirstChicanamuralistin
the 70s thatcapturedthesamefire thatmanyof
the Mexicanmuralsshestudiedfromin
MexicoCity had,provokinggalvanization
againstracialdiscriminationandactivism
(Tulum)
PRESENTATION TITLE 3

4. Description of
Baca's Works
Manyof Jady Baca'sare linear andyet
asymmetrical in nature. To comprehend
Judy'sartwork andinspiration,we must
lookto her past and time in her small city
of Pacoima.In this imagewe a photo of a
woman adornedwith colors that
rudimentarilyshape the shadowsof her
face. Growingup in a predominately
minoritypopulation,manyof Judy's
works featurePOC as the focal pointof
her paintings.Havingprimarilyfemale
leadingfigures in the forefront brings
about underlyingfeministictoneBaca so
proudly represents.
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From Judy Baca's "Local History"

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• In thisart piece, AbsolutelyChicana,
Baca emphasizes her Chicana heritage
by depicting the typical rebel "Latina"
stereotype thatwas made so common in
the 60s and70s. The looselines in the
characters hairand smoke become the
focal pointof the art piece showingthe
looseand un-restricting natureof the
piece. This "Chola"like character is
shown to be smoking, an action usually
frowned upon in society when in
relation of woman of minority andyet
the character unapologicaly blowing a
heart shapeinto the air

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• Followingthe dogma of female
leadership, Baca incorporates
"Rosie the Riveter" into the
World Wall, Judy'slarge-scale
mural thatis essentially a nodto
the history of America and
immigration.In this, Baca
portraysRosie being sucked
back into nuclearlifestyle living,
abandoningthelaborlifestyle
thatwoman for a time occupied
whilemen were outin WWI.

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In 1984, Los Angeles hosted the Olympics in a heated year for that summer. Taking
inspiration from the female's marathon running, Baca captures that moment
of feminine excelence in her mural "Hitting the Wall"

8. 2/1/XXXXX PRESENTATION TITLE 8
In 1971, Judy Baca made history as being
the first Chicana artist to erect her mural
in Los Angeles California. Being the
product of multiple collaborators in
Baca's SPARC program, Mi Abuela stands
at a menacing 10ft tall easel painting on
Hollenberg dive. The painting
encapsulates the warm embrace of an
Abuela or grandma with arms that reach
wide. Baca's inspiration for this piece was
to inspire a sense of community within LA
as a first project in her art accessibility
program. Being a first mural for Baca,
having a woman be the focal point of a
paint was quite revolutionary for the
mural community inspiring many artist to
embrace Latina representation.

9. Analysis
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• Judy Baca's works are an amalgamation of
abstract and realism that convey movement in
a highly stylized way. In really taking this fact
into account, we can see that Baca using this
to her advantage. Moving the viewers eyes
directly to where Baca wants them to. Because
Baca's murals usually tell a narrative, she uses
lines and asymmetric movement to tell the
contentsof a story through a synchronous
image. Effectively turning an image into a
timeline. Much of her imagery carries a strong
sense of realism in acknowledging the woes of
history as well as celebrating the many
achievementsPOC have accomplished today

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In Indian Assimilation,Baca
depicts the cruel mistreatment
nativeAmericansendured during
the assimilationperiodin which
Nativeshad to abandonedtheir
culture to conformto a colonist
society. IN the painting, Baca
masterfully makes the flames the
focal pointof the image,the
flames thuscarries to the right
side where we see a
presumably "assimilated"Native
walk away defeated into society.

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• In "Uprising of the Majeures", Baca depicts the strugglesof laborexploitationof immigrantworkers
in field work. In the graphicwe see a two tones imageon the left we see a man a callousman
greedily harboringall most of the earningsof the woman workers as they receive unfair
compensation.The two tones natureof the imagecreates a clear dissonancebetween what is right
andwrong andcarries the sense of injusticeas the expressionson the workers on the left side are
all exhaustedly pushingaway andholdingclear faces of discontent. The mistreatment of
immigrantsis an all too well-known fact of history that till this day is stillexperinced.

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Most of the works seen in this
presentation are all smaller
segments of a larger story and
timeline dubbed "The Great Wall
Of LA". Being arguably Baca's
most ambitious moral, The great
wall of LA stretches at a whopping
2,750 feet equivalent to around 6
blocks. The mural can be
described as a timeline of sorts
that describe the history of LA. It
details important facts of
immigration life/strife, the fight for
civil rights, government coups,
and feats for humanity as a whole.
Stretching from the beging to the
end, it begins with the beginning
of humanity and civilization and
the ending with a woman of color
carrying the torch that guides the
future.

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More images from Judy
Baca's "The Great Wall of
LA"

14. Interpretation
• When understanding Judy Baca's
work, there is a clear intent in a
call to action from the viewer. Her
images are almost visceral as she
draws expression with such
convention that the viewer can't
help but to feel sympathy for the
characters in her pieces. Art being
as universal of a language as it
gets, Baca is able to translate the
messages in her well as well as
being able to tell the history of
Chicano and POCs' endeavors
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15. Evaluation
• Final thoughts are I'm so glad I
was able to delve deeper into this
artist.Baca's artworks really speak
to me as her images are direct
calls to actionto encourage
conversationon issues thatneed
to be brought into light. As an
artist,I love how she uses her
artwork to convey these
messages,as art is a tool that is
quite literally made for
transferring informationin a
transcendentalway.
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16. Works
cited
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Chicano Popular Culture: "Que Hable
el pueblo" 2017, second edition,
Charles M. Tatum
Google Arts & Culture
SPARC Social and Public Arts
Reasearch Center Homepage -
SOCIAL AND PUBLIC ART RESOURCE
CENTER (sparcinla.org)