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The Muralists

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Michaela Realiza

Printmaking
Sophomore

I was born in the Phillippines, where I was partially raised, then immigrated to my mom's in San Diego. My biological parents are from Dipolog and my adoptive parents are from Manila while my grandparents  from all sides where born and raised in their respective regions of the Phillippines. 
I believe in the idea of storytelling as a form of resistance. I make art that is purely personal, which to me, makes it equally political. I am convinced that because I am an adopted, colored, woman, non-native to the United States, raised by my gay, divorced immigrant mother and her female partner in a low-income household, the mere fact that I am relaying my experience is heavy, transformative-not only for me as a process by which to cure the damage done by colonization, displacement and internalized racism but for the viewer who can absorb, learn, empathize and interact.  It is a radical idea! Offering an alternate account for a story that is white-washed, tampered with, diluted by the idea of "model minority", continuously silenced to the point of absurdity, to the point of warranted suspicion.  

As an artist and activist, it is my aim to create a presence for an identity that is stereotyped, misrepresented or under-represented. I want to offer my voice to this complicated hybrid that includes not only Phillippine history and culture but the history and culture of the diasporic Phillipino/a American as well.  I want to be able to use the privilege that I do have to gain support for the issues affecting my community. This begins by including community in a physical, geographical sense: the cities that I live in: Oakland and San Diego and where I was born and raised: the Phillippines, but then widens to include the communities that I inhabit due to who I am: the community of women, the community of colored women, the community of Filipinas, the community of Filipina-Americans, and the community of ...
Something that is currently taking place that is affecting me, my family and friends is gentrification-it has displaced not only my family but continues to displace multitudes of black and brown people.  The Revolution is yet to come but when land stops being a commodity as does everything else on this planet and money ceases to exist I'll be there to laugh at humanity's scattered and disillusioned past. 
This mural is important to me because it bridged the connection between our institution and Oakland while giving students the rightful agency that they do have to contribute to their physical environment in a way that helped them become closer to other members in the group but also relay their opinions about CCA. We addressed what matters to us and teamed up to create something that we care about (and worked hard on!) which I think shows in the end product. 


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Steven James Mayorga
Printmaking
First semester, Junior

I grew up in Los Angeles in Venice Beach in a house that my grandmother purchased in 1920 after being a migrant worker most of her life. My dad's family is from Michoacan, Mexico, and my mother grew up in  Oregon and her family is from Swedish. 
I see myself in a constant tug of war between being Chicano and Swedish and I personally don't feel accepted by other people in either ethnic group usually. So, when making work, even if something seems certain to me and my story, I fear constantly people questioning my legitimacy in making work about being Chicano. 
If I could change the world and society as a whole with my work, I would want to do away with the idea of systematic racism and oppression against people of color, women, and people of the LBGTQA community. I would hope that my work when politicized could help shape the future of what our society should be striving for in regards to social justice and class inequality. 
In my community and in building community I hope my art is capable of bringing people together and wanting to interact with one another to build relationships that facilitate the possibilities of growing and expanding on what it means to be a community. Community to me is anyone that shares common interest with me that is willing to work together in order to improve ourselves and the surrounding environment.  

​The gap between what the rich are paid and what working class people like myself are paid is the most prevalent issue to my life currently and not only my inability to pay rent but also the constant struggle of working too many hours and not being compensated fairly because of the uneven distribution of wealth. Maybe I could affect this issue by informing more people so they are actively aware that these things are unfair and they need to put pressure on our allegedly democratic government to break up large corporations that are destroying the American middle class and instilling a wage gap that doesn't seem fill able by anyone stuck in the middle of it.  
This mural is important to me because it  was an opportunity to work with a bunch of peers whom I respect as artist and forward thinkers in order to make the small community of people of color within the school feel as though they are recognized and being represented as a something valuable and welcome to the college's setting that felt/feels predominantly white. It was an opportunity to paint a mural and represent the Students of Color Coalition as an active and effective force on the campus as well as resource for people of color attending CCA and doing that as a member of SCC was a good feeling. It felt as though we were accomplishing something which was monumental. The mural introduced me to wonderful people and allowed me to work alongside peers I already respected and loved. That mural is a sign of acknowledgment of the struggles it takes people of color from around the world as well as in America and other people who are constantly marginalized and what some of them had to fight for in order for us to even have a class based on a single aspect of one of the cultures we hail from. 

 
    
 



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Laila Espinoza
​Community Arts

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Martina Miguens
​Jewelry

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Angel Perez
​Printmaking

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Jaqueline Krase
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  • Contact
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