Community Panel: Muralism in Southwest Detroit
April 19th, 2024
To celebrate the launch of Multilingualism, Migration, and Muralism in Southwest Detroit, this panel congregated community leaders to discuss the one-hundred-year legacy of Muralism in the city and its significance for Detroit’s latino communities.
Held in conjunction with Wayne State University’s “La Academia de Pueblo,” a public-facing academic conference, this community panel sparked timely conversations about Southwest Detroit’s artistic legacies.
The event was co-sponsored by the Michigan Humanities Council, with funding from a “United We Stand” NEH grant, and by the “Engaged Michigan” initative at the University of Michigan.
Emmanuel Orozco (right) from Translating Michigan presenting at and moderating this panel. The four panelists (from left to right) are Elton Monroy Durán, Elena Herrada, Louis Aguilar, and Osvaldo “Ozzie” Rivera.
Event poster for Wayne State University's 14th Academia del Pueblo.
Translating Michigan held a panel to celebrate the official launch of Multilingualism, Migration, and Muralism in Southwest Detroit.
Emmanuel, who also moderated the panel, highlighted the fact that Muralism has been central to the Latinx collective imaginary in Detroit and the community’s efforts to resist erasure.
Elena is showing a picture of a community mural while she speaks about her own experience with graffiti criminalization in Detroit.
Louis, author and reporter for Detroit News, prepared a live performance re-enacting a real conversation Frida Kahlo had with a ten-year old girl from Corktown in the 1930s.
Hosted by the WSU Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, “La Academia del Pueblo” seeks to foster the urban commons by inviting the public to engage with students and their research.
In its 14th reiteration, La Academia del Pueblo centered the intersections of gender and Latinidad.
Emmanuel Orozco Castellanos, who has collaborated with Translating Michigan since 2022, during his presentation at the community panel.
Panelist #1: Elton Monroy Durán
Elton, conceptual artist, spoke about his artistic career, his immigration experience, and how he has used his work to make Detroit’s Latinx community more visible.
Panelist #2: Osvaldo “Ozzie” Rivera
During his presentation, Ozzie (educator, musician, and community leader) provided a historical overview of Southwest Detroit’s first Latinx and Chicano art, arguing that murals are part of a longer artistic tradition in the city.
Panelist #3: Elena Herrada
Elena is a community activist and amateur historian. She presented on how local authorities have funded and co-opted murals in order to criminalize graffiti, and resulting in the silencing of critical voices in the community.
Panelist #4: Louis Aguilar, with the special participation of Jazmine Kuyayki Broe and Evaluna Zuniga-Walker
Louis Aguilar providing an introduction to this performance, which recounts a story that a woman who personally knew Kahlo shared with him.
Jazmine Kuyayki Broe (right, actress and dancer) played Frida Kahlo and Evaluna Zuniga-Walker (left, actress) played the 10-year old girl from Corktown. This enlightening conversation is one of the rare documented interactions between the world-renowned artist and Detroit’s local Mexican community. Accompanying this majestic performance, pictures of unfinished panels of Detroit Industry Murals were projected.
PANEL DISCUSSION
During the second half of the event, the presenters participated in a panel discussion, responding to questions from the moderator and the audience. The discussion offered the community an opportunity to compare their own experiences with art in the neighborhood. Panelists and participants alike agreed that the Latinx community shares a sense of invisibility in the city. Likewise, there is a consensus is that the upcoming centennial of The Detroit Industry Murals warrants critical conversations on the legacies of murals in the community.
From left to right: Elton Monroy Durán (panelist), Elena Herrada (panelist), Louis Aguilar (panelist), Ozzie Rivera (panelist), and Emmanuel Orozco Castellanos (moderator).
Elena Herrada responds a question from a member of the audience during the open Q&A section of the event.
At the heart of public art production in Detroit is the antagonizing, promoted by city officials, of graffiti and murals. Detroit’s harsh anti-tagging policies frame certain kinds of art as legitimate while censoring others.
Panel participants, however, stressed the fact that the mural-vs-graffiti discourse is a false dichotomy. Art in Southwest Detroit—in all of its forms—is deeply rooted in the community’s strife to make themselves visible.
Implicated in the timeliness of this discussion is the city government’s capitalization of murals as part of its redevelopment efforts. Participants expressed concern that this form of art, which has historically been used to increase the visibility of the Latinx community, is being co-opted by local authorities.
Panelists engage with participants from the audience during the Q&A section of the event.
From the Detroit Industry Murals to the recent boom of pubic art in the city, Latinxs have sought to reassert their presence in a city that often sidelines them from the public discourse. This panel was both a reminder and a manifestation of the community’s enriching contributions to the art and culture scene of the City of Detroit, Michigan, and the broader U.S.
From left to right: Elton Monroy Durán, Evaluna Zuniga-Walker (front), Elena Herrada (back), Emmanuel Orozco Castellanos, Osvaldo “Ozzie” Rivera, Louis Aguilar, and Jazmine Kuyayki Broe.