Humboldt Park murals feel struggle of changing community

Vibrant colors leap from the brick wall and shine onto the street. Two giant hands clasped tightly together tower over a child's coffin. Standing tall next to protesters and rioters, they symbolize the words above them: "Unidos Para Triunfar," or Together We Overcome.

This mural is one of many artistic pieces that grace the buildings of Humboldt Park. The murals, some of which date back to the early 1970s, are among the oldest outdoor murals in the country.

Much like the community they represent, these works of art are being threatened by gentrification.

Marisa Alicea, associate dean for The School of New Learning at DePaul University, has been photographing the murals for nearly 30 years.

"We've definitely lost a lot of murals to the gentrification process," she said. "Either developers want to build a building next to it or sometimes new residents in the community don't find the images very appealing or relevant to their own reality."

Such was the case in July 2001 when "La Crucifixion de Don Pedro Albizu Campos," or The Crucifixion of Don Pedro Albizu Campos, which depicts Puerto Rico's best known leader hanging on a wooden cross alongside two former political prisoners, was nearly erased by the white cinderblock walls of an emerging condo.

Activists and community organizations banded together and saved the mural with the help of both Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th) and a win in court. Now the mural is in need of another renovation, since the previous construction damaged its foundation and defaced the lower parts.

Eduardo Arocho, a community consultant, is helping to organize the re-restoration of "La Crucifixion" and said not all murals have been so lucky.

"We've been able to save several," he said. "But with other [murals] we have to fight. Gentrification does that to everything."

With the increase in new buildings and new residents comes a larger need for the protection of these cultural symbols. Chicago law, however, protects only indoor murals, leaving outdoor murals to the community.

In conjunction with the Institute for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, the Humboldt Park Mural Restoration Program has been working to restore and protect the artwork and history these murals represent.

John Weber, a professor of art at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, has painted and restored four of his own murals in Humboldt Park, including "Unidos Para Triunfar."

"The point of [the program]," he said, "is to provide a focus and an umbrella which places the effort to save any one mural in the broader context of saving a larger body of socially significant art work."

Weber agreed that area development poses a threat to art.
"The danger of loss is mainly a question of property sale to new owners," he said.

"Especially developers who want to "cleanup" and who are ignorant, unconcerned and sometimes outright hostile about art or culture or existing community ties, no less community history."

The program does most of its work in the summer but has taken a temporary backseat to the renovation of the Humboldt Park stables. However, educational programs, walking mural tours and similar events will continue to keep the artwork alive. In fact, in the past two years, three new murals have appeared along Paseo Boricua, which stretches along Division Street from Western Avenue to Mozart and is a staple of the Puerto Rican community.

"They are about educating our community and representing the reality of particular communities," said Alicea, co-founding member of the program. "Here's our community and it's about claiming a place in the history of Chicago."

"Unidos Para Triunfar," or Together We Overcome, was painted in the 1970's and was recently restored by artist John Weber. Like many murals, it addresses the social, economic and developmental issues of the Humboldt Park community.

"La Crucifixion de Don Pedro Albizu Campos," 1971, is the oldest exterior Puerto Rican mural in Chicago. The piece, off of North Ave. and Artesia, was recently endangered by a condo builder. The community plans to build a small park on the now vacant lot.