Audio by Russel Altamirano
Maker: Judith Baca (1946-)
Culture: American
Title: Study for Migration of the Golden People
Date Made: 2001
Type: Painting, study for a mural
Materials: Acrylic and inkjet on canvas (combination of paint and printed out images)
Measurements: 42 in x 96 in.
Transcript:
When I look at this work, one of the things that draws my attention first are the crowds of people in the center that seem to be walking towards the viewer, especially in this golden orange tint or paint. And then when I look further, I notice that they seem to be highlighted in the central orange so the woman towards the left seems to be kind of painted with different colors, and so it seems to me the way her arm protrudes outward is that they’re part of a memory or perhaps story that is being told by her. And so this work represents Central American migration into the US, specifically Los Angeles. And I remember when I met the artist, Judy Baca, she founded the Social and Public Art Resource Center in Los Angeles. She spoke a lot about her work, not just this mural. But I remember her speaking about how migration is part of human existence and although sometimes it’s stigmatized, especially when the people in question are coming from Latin America; their stories are often looked down upon. And that’s one of the reasons why this work had such a strong emotional impact for me because it finally sort of visualizes these stories that are being represented.