The Great Wall of Los Angeles

An essay by Kyle Jonas

2011 Restoration of The Great Wall of Los Angeles (Photo by The City Project)

Creation

Over the summer months of 1974-1983, Judith Baca, along with the help of hundreds of local youth, created the largest mural in the world, The Great Wall of Los Angeles. This impressive mural “documented the history of Los Angeles from the perspective of social, racial, gender, and even sexual minorities” [1]. In total, the mural stands at 13.5 feet tall by 2,754 feet long, created in the Tujunga Flood Control Channel in the San Fernando Valley. The subject matter of the mural spanned from the prehistoric era through the 1950s, primarily highlighting events that affected these minority groups.

Judith Baca began to create The Great Wall of Los Angeles when she was contacted by the Army Corps of Engineers to create a mural that would help “develop and beautify the area” [2].Her work would go beyond simply painting a mural, however. She employed over four hundred at-risk youth to help her create this mural and find new forms of inspiration. This was not the first time that Baca worked alongside community members to create one of her projects. In 1970 she created her mural Mi Abuelita with the help of rival gang members in the area. In addition to the youth working on The Great Wall with Baca, several other artists, oral historians, scholars, and other community members of various social and economic backgrounds came out to help with the project [3]. This project went beyond the painting itself, as Baca relates she “designed this project as an artist concerned not only with the physical aesthetic considerations of a space, but the social, environmental and cultural issues affecting the site as well” [4]. Baca’s employment of community members extends the influence of her works, showing how “the process of creating a mural was just as important as the finished product” [5].

Sections from Judith Baca's The Great Wall of Los Angeles

Migrant California

"Migrant California" in The Great Wall of Los Angeles (Photo by The City Project)

In The Great Wall of Los Angeles, the section entitled “Migrant California” shows a group of six migrants, including three children, standing in a field in front of a group of flags. As the overall mural is used as a timeline of history, Judith Baca uses curves, receding lines, and depth to draw the reader's attention along the timeline. The flags behind the subjects curve up and go to the right, somewhat framing the migrants in the middle with the peak of the curve. The flags then continue down and to the right, drawing the eye of the viewer to continue on to the next part of the timeline. On the right, all of the different flags lead into the red and white stripes of the American flag. The image then transitions into the worker in the field with the stripes of the American flag continuing onto the field. As the flags morph together into the stripes of the American flag, the flag continues to curve into the right and farther into the background.

The conglomeration of flags in the background of “Migrant California” likely represents some of the most highly represented nations among migrants in California. Judith Baca connects them all together, ultimately leading into the flag of the United States, potentially symbolizing the process of these migrants matriculating into American culture and becoming U.S. citizens. The flags all being combined together could also symbolize the stigmas these migrants face of all being bundled into one label: migrant. However, the family of migrants stand proudly in front of the flags, showing their pride in their own culture.

Much of this section mural uses warm colors such as brown, dark blue, and orange. The brighter colors of the flags contrast these darker earth tones. The sunset and mountains in the background continue throughout the image connecting the migrants in front of the flag with the worker in the field in the same space. There is also a consistent horizon line throughout, making everything look to be in the same space. Judith Baca makes lots of use of shadows to make objects look three dimensional. This is most prominent in the clothes of the individuals. All of the clothes have shadows to show the folds in them and make the figures seem more rounded. Interestingly though, the figure that is the farthest right in front of the flags is given very little detail and looks to be flat. The flags also curve and have folds to make them look as if they are creasing or bending, giving more dimensions to the painting.

Historical Context

Judith Baca was painting The Great Wall of Los Angeles at a time where there were many Chicanx rights and cultural movements. The so-called “Chicano Movements” began in the 1960s as a “moment of ethnic empowerment and protest among Americans of Mexican descent” [6]. Much of this movement involved youth struggling against discrimination, so it is no surprise that Baca, who was painting around this time period, wanted to represent her culture and empower Chicanx youth around her.

Due to the subject matter of the painting, creating The Great Wall of Los Angeles as a public mural was very important. Murals enable the artwork to be viewed by anyone who wishes to see it. They are public displays available for all rather than private displays not accessible to everyone. Mexican muralism was pioneered by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Jose Clemente Orozco, otherwise known as Los Tres Grandes. They sought to craft these public artworks to display their indigenismo, give a voice to the working-class people, and educate the illiterate masses [7]. Mexican muralism became widely popular in the United States, especially in Los Angeles where Baca grew up and worked in. Judith Baca sought to use her murals in the same fashion as Los Tres Grandes. As mentioned previously, she wanted to give a voice to the minorities in California with The Great Wall of Los Angeles and tell their story that is often forgotten. Painting on concrete in a mural can also give the painting a more humble appearance, again representing the humble, poorer subjects of these paintings. Similarly, Baca “often used the visual conventions utilized by los tres grandes and redeployed them with a particularly feminist reading” [8]. Stylistically, Baca’s figures look similar to those in Diego Rivera’s murals. Also, Baca sought to engrain the stories of Chicanx people into the story of California, similar to how Rivera championed the indigenous Mexican communities.

More sections of the mural

Conclusion

Judith Baca’s goal with The Great Wall of Los Angeles was to tell the history of California from the perspective of minorities. Similar to los tres grandes, she used muralism to educate people and tell the story of those that may be overlooked. Being a part of the Chicanx community, this was something that was very important to Baca. Her impact went far beyond her murals, however. She directly interacted with and worked alongside those whose stories were being told and who needed this inspiration.

Visit The Great Wall of Los Angeles today!

[1] Guisela Latorre, Walls of Empowerment (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008), 192.

[2] Latorre, Walls of Empowerment, 191.

[3] “The Great Wall of Los Angeles,” SPARCinLA, accessed April 4, 2020, http://sparcinla.org/programs/the-great-wall-mural-los-angeles/

[4] “The Great Wall of Los Angeles,” SPARCinLA, accessed April 4, 2020, http://sparcinla.org/programs/the-great-wall-mural-los-angeles/

[5] Latorre, Walls of Empowerment, 192.

[6] Educating Change: Chicano, accessed April 4, 2020, https://www.brown.edu/Research/Coachella/chicano.html

[7] Doris Maria-Reina Bravo, “Mexican Muralism: Los Tres Grandes-David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco,” Smarthistory, August 9, 2015, https://smarthistory.org/mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandes-david-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jose-clemente-orozco/

[8] Latorre, Walls of Empowerment, 52.

Additional Resources

Bibliography

Bravo, Doris Maria-Reina. “Mexican Muralism: Los Tres Grandes-David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco.” Smarthistory, August 9, 2015. https://smarthistory.org/mexican-muralism-los-tres-grandes-david-alfaro-siqueiros-diego-rivera-and-jose-clemente-orozco/.

Educating Change: Chicano. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://www.brown.edu/Research/Coachella/chicano.html.

Latorre, Guisela. Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.

Rodriguez, Kaelyn Danielle. “Authorship and Memory in Judy Baca’s Murals.” Thesis, University of California Riverside, 2014.

“The Great Wall of Los Angeles.” SPARCinLA. Accessed April 4, 2020. http://sparcinla.org/programs/the-great-wall-mural-los-angeles/.

Page updated

Report abuse