Form and Power: Black Murals in Los Angeles

Peace, Friendship, Happiness in Our World

Rafeal Escamilla is a muralist from El Salvador that has been making local artwork for the past twenty years. He collaborates with different people in his community to make the artwork, including school children. Escamilla created this panel as part of a four-panel mural that displays an idyllic world of unity and peace despite the different occupations, backgrounds, and skin colors of the depicted figures.   

Located in Koreatown, this panel plays a significant role in preserving the history of the area. Koreatown was formed in the 1970s when a large number of Koreans arrived in the United States. Following the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a reaction to systemic police brutality against Black people that culminated in the beating of Rodney King in 1991, Koreatown was greatly affected by the riots’ widespread destruction. Today, Koreatown is known for its diversity and has become a space where different ethnic groups come together in a tightknit community.

Peace, Friendship, and Happiness in Our World addresses the theme of community. The four children of different races standing shoulder to shoulder together in one line symbolize a diverse yet united community. In the way the children gaze up and ahead, they convey themes of optimism as they look towards a better, more peaceful future for themselves. This panel looks forward to a future in which racial discrimination no longer exists. This mural imagines a world in which diversity creates friendships instead of divisions.
 
Written by Anthony Chang, c/o ‘24

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