El Grito del Barrio Sigue! Albizu/Che Mural Restoration Continues!

On Saturday, September 24th, 2011 the restoration (and expansion) of the landmark Dos Alas" ("Two Wings") mural continues! The LLAMA collective invites you to join them in repainting this magnificent portrait of freedom fighters Don Albizu Campos and Ernesto "Che" Guevara!

Organized by Xen Medina, (Not)4Prophet, Marina Ortiz and other members of the Luisa's Liberation Artists Making Action (LLAMA), the multimedia activity has drawn hundreds of community-based artists and East Harlem residents - as well as performers from the Welfare Poets and Ricanstrution Netwerk music collectives!

Members of the original mural collective such as Muralist & DJ Carlito Rovira, filmmakers Vagabond Beaumont and Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez, Yerbabuena co-founder, Tato Torres and community journalist Ismael Nunez - and Independent Puerto Ricans throughout the Metropolitan region - have also come out to help honor these twin icons of national liberty and might!

Your support is even more critical this weekend as we continue to observe the September 23rd anniversary of "El Grito de Lares" (the 1868 Uprising in Lares, Puerto Rico) as well as the 2005 assassination of Comandante Filiberto Ojeda Rios (del Ejército Popular Boricua) in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico.

Bring forth your flag, your brush, your words, your cane cutters, your independent spirit and join the LLAMA collective in honoring nuestros patriotas!

ABOUT LLAMA

The Luisa's Liberation Artists Making Action (LLAMA) collective is made up of neighborhood residents, community activists/agitators, and dirt roots groups interested in preserving and celebrating El/our Barrio’s distinct Afro Rican/Nuyorican and Latin American political/cultural/artistic character through art and media. Members include (Not)4Propher, a founding member of the Ricanstruction Network, artist/musician Xen Medina, and Marina Ortiz, editor of VirtualBoricua.org and EastHarlemPreservation.org.

LLAMA seeks to reaffirm El/our Barrio’s unique cultural and political character through the restoration of outdoor murals in the (neighbor)Hood.

At the turn of the 21st century, dozens of murals in El Barrio were demolished/white washed and/or replaced with “temporary” chain link fences by avaricious property owners seeking to benefit from the recent “luxury housing” development frenzy. Since the collapse of the real estate industry, many of these vacant lots again stand empty and without garish cinder blocks to disguise this latest community assault.

LLAMA began this extensive restoration effort in the summer of 2011 starting with "Dos Alas" - one of two remaining Ricanstruction Netwerk murals in East Harlem.

In addition to the actual painting (and re-painting), LLAMA activities will include impromptu street performances and opportunities for public discourse and participation as well as workshops/classes to teach young people from the (neighbor)Hood to make their own murals. As in the past, this project will engage and encourage Latinos of every age to reclaim their traditional counter-culture character y dignidad.

ABOUT THE "DOS ALAS" MURAL

Produced in 1999 by the art and agitation collective known as Ricanstruction Netwerk as well as members of the now defunct youth organization Puerto Rico Collective, with community support, the "Dos Alas" mural is located on a highly visible commercial building wall on the northeast corner of East 105th Street near Third Avenue in East Harlem.

Due to the incredibly high-density pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic in the busy shopping district, this Pedro Albizu Campos/Che Guevara mural is seen (and discussed) by thousands of residents, students and visitors every day and often serves as the backdrop for personal (and professional) photography and video shoots.

Intentionally created without "permission", the wall painting is one of several remaining pieces in a series of radical al fresco artworks designed to disturb and dismantle mainstream prejudices while recapturing and redefining the Puerto Rican/Nuyorican and Latin American political identity in the Diaspora.

Although the bright red, white and blue works preceded the wave of political autocracy that gripped the United States after September 11, 2001, the murals are reminders of this country’s fundamental policy of repression against Latinos as evidenced by the century-long colonization of Puerto Rico and by the many decades of subjugation and neglect served upon on the East Harlem community.