El Círculo de la Vida (Circle of Life)

El Círculo de la Vida (Circle of Life)

By: Workshop for Community Arts Artists: Isidro “Chilo” Pérez and Adriana Sánchez Alexander, 2021

El Círculo de la Vida (Circle of Life) was created by Workshop for Community Arts and artists Isidro “Chilo” Pérez and Adriana Sánchez Alexander for El Sol Science and Arts Academy in 2021.

This community mural was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, during social distancing, which meant not only did the mural need to address the situation that the school and neighboring community was living through, but we also had to find a way to work together safely under these conditions. Via El Sol’s online learning platform and on the wall itself, students were invited to answer a “Question of the Week,” which each week was painted on the wall. The questions asked students to reflect on how the world has changed, how they themselves had changed, what they’d learned in the last year, and what they would remember. Using students’ input, the final mural design reflected students’ experiences of masking, distance, sadness, time with their family, longing to be together again, and happiness when they were able to see their friends again. From left to right, the imagery shows a kind of progression from distance learning to being back-in-person again. The mural was painted during an in-person summer school session with the help of the elementary school students, who came out in small groups to paint different sections of the wall with the help of the artists.

Mural credits (painted on wall): Thank you to the students and staff of El Sol Academy for all the many ways they supported in the creation of this community mural. Queremos dedicar este mural a la comunidad, que en tiempos difíciles sigue recordando y soñando.