Judith Baca: Nonviolent Resistance

Judith Baca’s Murals are interesting to look at and note all the small details and images. The use of color in her murals brings them to life. One mural I found particularly interesting, besides The Great Wall of course, is a panel from The World Wall, titled Nonviolent Resistance. The image includes five activists together arm in arm to resist the Gulf War and the destruction of land caused by fossil fuels. Behind them are industrial pipelines, gas masks, and debris. The background also is painted in a red hue suggesting blood coming from the land. The activists seem to be of all ages and are powerful looking minorities fighting against power structures. They are situated in front in in active stances which creates a tension when combined with their determined faces. This piece discusses the loss of care for out world with the damage to the land behind them. America, as a country, is obsessed with war and power, which is illustrated by the use of tanks. I thought this mural was interesting because, though it was created in 1989 it actually relates a lot to the Dakota access pipeline that was being resisted by native Americans in 2016, who were also trying to protect against oil pipelines being put into to their ancestral lands. This protest was also a nonviolent resistance that was met by violence to the protestors by police officers. It’s crazy how a political piece, like Baca’s, can still be relatable years later. History seems to repeat itself and art has a record of that.