The two murals framing a corner of the PODER immigration integration center lot in Gage Park run jaggedly over metal fencing that bends in and out. The tell a story common to most Americans — of the road their ancestors traveled to reach the United States.
The murals represent the paths to Chicago from Mexico and South America.
On one mural, by Chicago muralist Alma Dominguez, the head of a woman rises from the soil, her outstretched hand opening to release silhouetted butterflies and moths that show their full color further ahead on a fiery trail. The robin’s-egg blue background represents the sky, with Lake Michigan a deeper blue below it. The line of fire bounces off the lake and shoots into the sky.
Silhouettes of people gaze at the lake, while Gage Park’s characteristic bungalows rise at intervals along the water with plants native to the Midwest.
On another metal fence, at a 45-degree angle to the blue-sky mural, artist Mario Mena’s design stretches out with a deep plum purple background. Dark mountains rise from the ground with a glowing ridge line, representing the path that many travel north from South America. Above it winds a Quetzalcoatl, or feathered serpent, an Aztec god of the morning and evening star.
The Mexican pyramids stand along the route, which ends at the Chicago skyline. The names of countries, from Mexico to Peru to Venezuela, appear along the Quetzalcoatl’s red and green, glowing body.
The murals were unveiled last month at PODER, 3357 W. 55th St. The organization, which opened in Pilsen in 1996, helps newly arrived Latino immigrants gain the skills and support they need to succeed.
“Today’s mural reflects not only what we do at PODER, but who we are as people, as a community and as a country of immigrants,” said PODER CEO Daniel Loftus. “America’s immigrant story used to unite us all, and I believe it will again.”
PODER moved to its new headquarters in 2023 after renovating a building that had been vacant for more than 20 years.
At a time when immigrants are targeted by the federal government, the murals are particularly important, the two artists said. Mena said he also is frustrated with city alderpersons who backed a failed proposal in January to allow Chicago police to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We wanted to highlight that immigration path that people take to the U.S. for the American dream,” said Mena, who immigrated from Mexico and now lives in Gage Park.
He was glad to help beautify his own neighborhood. “As an artist and Mexican, we are here to contribute to our community. Be inclusive, represent and combat this rhetoric without violence. I feel like it’s another method of resistance.”
For Dominguez, the silhouettes in her mural represent the immigrants who work, attend school and take care of their families here in Chicago.
“We can see a lady representing the community that has lived here, and adapted, and works and lives every day in this wonderful city and contributes to the life of the city,” she said.
“We are in dark times as a culture for our immigrant community, and art can be a form of resistance.”