San Fernando Valley
Murals from 1970s - Now
Murals give communities with diverse backgrounds and multicultural stories a voice. When art is created in public spaces it becomes a living breathing entity, an ever-changing part of the urban landscape. Murals become a woven tapestry of stories that visitors confront almost daily in parts of the San Fernando Valley.
In 1915, when Los Angeles annexed the agricultural lands of the San Fernando Valley, a distinct regional aesthetic emerged that reflected a unique Valley identity. From 1915 to 1970, the Valley’s population nearly doubled every decade with rapid urbanization and immigrants from a plethora of cultures settling in. The earliest murals from this period tend to reflect two themes: the hopes of these new immigrants for themselves and the generations to come and a desire to monumentalize their cultural roots in the process of assimilation.
The rise of the production of murals during the 1970s marks the start of the “cultural renaissance.” Chicanx artists during this period resembled the artists active in the mural movement of Mexico when muralists like Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Jose Clemente Orozco used public art to depict political statements and other messages for their viewers. Muralists continue to create works that connect the communities viewing them and the places they are situated in–to instill a sense of togetherness despite obstacles.
From 1986 to 2002, Los Angeles was recognized internationally as the mural capital of the world. However, in 2002 due to a lawsuit from a billboard company, the city of Los Angeles instituted a city-wide ban on both advertisements and murals on private property. The lawsuit claimed that by banning advertisements on private property while allowing murals infringed on the billboard company’s right to free speech. Despite this ban, hundreds of “illegal” murals continued to be created. Finally, in 2013 Mayor Garcetti signed a mural ordinance which gave muralists the freedom to legally produce murals and today we have hundreds of magnificent murals from this period, including the Mural Mile.
Mural Mile and other recent creations, share some of the same themes of those produced during the 1970’s, including the often challenging experience of accepting where you came from and embracing where you are now. As many minority cultures in the Valley today have had direct or (one generation removed) indirect experience with colonization, forced emigration, economic hardship and political persecution, the more contemporary paintings often focus on embracing the cultural and socio-linguistic identity that was either threatened in the past or is seemingly less available to the youth today.
In this virtual exhibition, Murals of the Communities of the San Fernando Valley, 1970s - Now, visitors will find murals from Then (1970’s) and murals from Now (1990-2020). The historic murals come from a photography archive that was donated to the Museum of the San Fernando Valley. The Now images reflect a selection of mural chosen by students at California State University, Northridge in an exhibition design course (Fall 2020).
The images in this virtual exhibition are used with permission by the Murals of the Communities of the San Fernando Valley.
Phone: 747 .202 .3084
Email: themuseumsfv@gmail.com
Where to find us:
18904 Nordhoff St, Northridge,
CA 91324