Diamond V. Galindo grew up in Humboldt Park’s New Life Community Church. She stopped by after school for homework help. She spent her summers there, signing up for its programs for kids.
Artist Alecks Cruz didn’t know any of that when he asked Galindo, whose artist name is Diamond Doodle, to be lead artist for a new mural on the side of the church at 1410 N. Springfield Ave. as part of his program, The Heart Project. But for Galindo, who now lives in West Ridge, it was her chance to thank the church and community that helped her as a neighborhood kid in Humboldt Park.
“I feel like this is my thank you note to it,” Galindo says. “When he told me they’re going to do a mural over there, I said, ‘Let’s do this.’ We did this whole mural representing the community, bringing hope and light. They’re a second family in that church.”
The Heart Project is one of many programs run out of New Life Church and New Life Center’s five Chicago locations. Cruz says they seek to bring healing and empowerment to kids and the community through art. This mural was done through a grant from the Rich in Faith project, through which five Chicago urban ministries are collecting stories of faith in the community and using them to inspire murals, among other projects.
Participants in Rich in Faith projects don’t need to belong to a church. They just need to share how they experience God and how faith looks for them, Cruz says. For the New Life mural, the project collected stories from alumni of the church’s programs. Those programs include homework help, sports programs, jewelry making, a food pantry and more.
“Over and over, we kept hearing, ‘The church was a place where the doors were always welcome. It felt like family. There were mentors that loved me better than some of my own family members at home,’” Cruz says.
Cruz reached out to Galindo and asked if she could compile the stories and turn them into a mural with help from kids signed up for summer programs this year. Cruz likes to promote young artists and thought Galindo, a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with Humboldt Park roots, would be perfect.
“I just knew that she was an artist,” he says. He quickly realized the project was more than just a mural to Galindo.
The resulting artwork is made up largely of pinks, greens and blues with yellow accents. The vines and flowers symbolize the church’s outreach and how its programs help kids grow while keeping them connected. The basketball represents New Life’s sports programs, and the book represents its focus on education and helping students with their homework. Humboldt Park three-flats are staggered up one side of the mural, and a mentor and student seem to be sitting on a bench nearby, reading.
Stairs lead up into the heart of a woman with blue hair, arms outstretched above the mural, with the words “beloved community” written in bubble letters over it all.
In the bottom left, a bubbly girl with pink hair — Galindo’s trademark character — is eating a Batman paleta.
“I had been craving a paleta so badly,” Galindo says about painting that section of the mural. “What I do miss about the neighborhood, I like to go out and get my ice cream. This is summer. This is my time.”