Chicago murals: McKinley Park art is based on Natalia Lafourcade song
Artist Griselda Avila of Little Village stands in front of the mural she painted in McKinley Park. The painting was inspired by Natalia Lafourcade’s song “Hasta La Raiz.”
Provided
Griselda Avila’s first mural in McKinley Park puts the notes and lyrics of singer Natalia Lafourtuna’s song, “Hasta La Raíz,” onto the wall in a kind of self portrait illustrating the importance of “resilience, love and connection” — the themes of the popular tune.
“I interpret that song as keeping the past with you — pretty much keeping all of your experiences with you — regardless if they’re good or bad, and how the past shapes the future,” says Avila, 34, of Little Village.
As such, her painting features a woman who resembles La Catrina, the iconic skeletal symbol of Dia de los Muertos. The woman’s hair flows down and around the corner of the brick building, and her hands strum the hair strands like they are guitar strings.
The notes to Lafourtina’s music are drawn on the hair like chords on a treble clef, with the notes themselves depicted as stacks of heart-shaped milagros, which are small religious charms popular in Mexican culture. For those who know how to read music, they will find the chords to the “Hasta La Raíz” chorus, with the lyrics written below.
She began the painting in summer 2023, and “finished right before Day of the Dead,” she says.
“The long hair is from my personal journey,” says Avila, who only recently grew out her own hair for the first time. She sees the connection between caring for her long hair and caring for her mental health.
“It’s something you have to tend to,” she says. “It’s very intentional. You have to have the patience. It’s something that just happens, but then you have to manage it.”
The two skeleton arms coming together in her mural, Avila says, symbolize the connection we all have to our ancestors. She also seeks to reverse the popular depiction of death as something to fear. “We have a negative connotation toward death and the afterlife. But this is celebrating it and honoring it,” she says.
Avila was commissioned to paint the work on the corner of W. 35th Street and S. Wolcott Avenue by the building’s owner, Karina Mora, who lives and works in the space.
Mora says she and her husband recently moved to the home from Pilsen, where they loved the neighborhood’s characteristic murals. Their new building was tagged a few times, she says, so they decided to commission a mural of their own in McKinley Park.
“Typically murals are respected and left alone,” she says.
Avila developed a few concept ideas, and this mural was the design that Mora chose.
“This one resonated with me the most. It showcased her personal style,” as well as the women’s shared cultural roots, Mora says. “Hasta La Raíz” translates into “to the roots” in English.
Mora says this was her first commissioned mural, and she hopes to add more along the walls of her building. The experience was a first for both of them, and she learned the importance of preparing the brick for painting and buying the correct paints for the artist.
“I love to see more opportunities for other creatives to get their start,” Mora says. “We have a pretty big building with more walls.”
Avila works in creative and digital services at University of Illinois Chicago, and studied industrial design at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She’s always considered herself an artist, whether it’s sewing, metal working, drawing or painting. She hopes to paint more murals, too.
“This is my first time working on something this large,” she says. “It’s very exciting.”
