Artivism in Chicago

Role of Science Fiction





 

The people who created this mural used science fiction to depict what would happen if the U.S. doesn’t learn from its carbon footprint, while also criticizing its political choices. In the mural, there are plantations emitting carbon into the atmosphere, a big contributor to climate change. These artists are using their art to call for political change, as a result of the Latinx experience in the United States being political. This mural is showing how Latinxs can’t simply not be political, because they are constantly under scrutiny by this country.  This mural is taking the unconventional, science fiction, and making it easily accessible and understandable to groups that may not have that ability. This mural is taking elements that aren’t necessarily Latinx, but turning them into a universal way in which everyone is affected by things such as climate change. 

All the way to the right of the mural, there is a spider taking over the World. If you look closely, you can see that there are words such as “oil”, “corporations”, “Wall St”, “internet”, “green card” and a science symbol. This plays a crucial role in targeting more people, and getting more people to see the importance of political action. These are all things that could potentially destroy the world if no one does anything about it, and this mural is calling for something to be done. Although this is purely science fiction and almost comedical, it well represents the effect that having an incompetent government has. They are taking their Latinx experience and expanding it into an experience that all Americans should relate to. Since the Latinx experience is political, this mural does the same thing, but finds a different mean to express it through, which is science fiction. This mural is calling for people to be political, while incorporating science fiction elements. Since this mural is called “Prevent World War III”, this also could represent a war between the world and aliens/non-human things, such as is portrayed in a different part of the mural. This mural is located in a neighborhood where there are already existing tensions and problems between the people who live there and the people trying to force them out. The spider trying to take over the World is an analogy for white people trying to gentrify Pilsen and strip it of its culture.

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