We started this project idea while in our Humanities Lab course at Arizona State University. This class is unique because we look at migration patterns and groups in a comparative study of Phoenix, Arizona and Berlin, Germany. Part of the class is filled with German students, and while none of us in this group speak German, we can all agree that the set-up of this class was vital to making our learning of migration groups more personal - as many of us come from immigrants, all over the world.
It is important to note here that a majority of the research and articles that we found about these topics focus on Latin American immigrant groups, however, that is not a completely accurate representation of Phoenix migration. While visiting murals around the Valley, we did find murals of other groups, however, not much about the cultural connection to street art is available.
“Murals often act as community archives, with artists inscribing walls and freeway underpasses with invisibilized histories and presences”.
If you see a mural uniquely focused on migration and immigrant groups, please use the email at the bottom of the page with a couple photos of it and any information you have about location, artist, etc. We would love to see it and update the site!
email: lpatte12@asu.edu
Here are some of our favorite locations! Visit our site to see more.
Asian Art District - Mesa
Calle 16 - Phoenix
American Gothic Inspired - Phoenix
Rodriguez, Darlene Xiomara, and Lina Tuschling. “#HereToStay: Murals of Resistance and Civic Engagement.” Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, vol. 35, no. 2, Apr. 2021, pp. 294–313. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2021.1903395.
Moran-Taylor, Michelle, and Cecilia Mejívar. “Unpacking Longings to Return: Guatemalans and Salvadorans in Phoenix, Arizona.” International Migration, vol. 43, no. 4, Sept. 2005, pp. 91–119. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2005.00334.x.
Magaña, Maurice Rafael. 2022. “ Multimodal archives of transborder belonging: Murals, social media, and racialized geographies in Los Angeles.” American Anthropologist 124: 703– 720. https://doi-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1111/aman.13772.
Orozco, Cynthia E. 1998 “Chicano and Latino art and culture institutions in the Southwest: the politics of space, race, and money” Latinos in Museums pp. 95-108
Skop, E. & Menjivar, C. 2001. “Phoenix: The Newest Latino Immigrant Gateway?.” Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, 63, 63 - 76 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/525839