Judy Baca: Re-imagining the past and future

Figure 1. World Wall Schematic drawing

figure 2. World Wall: A vision of the Future without fear

Judith Baca is a Chicana muralist, teacher and activist. Baca was heavily involved in the 70s with the Chicano Civil rights movement, the Women's Liberation movement, and anti Vietnam war protests. Baca describes her youth as "a time when everybody was working really hard at just being American." But  what does it mean to be American?  Baca's mural The Great Wall of Los Angeles answers this question by showing entangled histories of America. In one panel we can see a highway cutting through communities displacing homes and segregating people. In another panel we see a Hollywood sign with an enlarged Nixon looming over the film industry as entertainment executives point fingers at people being hurled into a pit. Visually the Great Wall of Los Angeles is a spectacular mural with vivid colors, swirling distorted forms, and an poignant look at complex overlapping histories.

While The Great Wall unveils concealed and overlooked histories the World Wall envisions new possibilities for the future. World Wall: A Vision of the Future without Fear illustrates the transformative possibilities of humanity when people refashion their world view and orient themselves towards peace. Peace in World Wall is illustrated through a process starting with the self and ending with international balance centered on spiritual growth and redirecting technology away from violence(like the military industrial complex) and into a cleaner world.  Balance between spiritual and material are illustrated in the schematic plans for the mural and at the center is a universal peace. 

As a history major I think the work Baca does to illuminate hidden histories is important and starts the process of redressing the lingering suffering of the past. But there does come a point where we need to look forward and start thinking seriously about what a better world really looks like.