A 683-foot wall along Southwest Boulevard is being repainted, with eight artists creating a new mural centered on love, unity and community. The wall has carried stories of Kansas City's Mexican-American Westside since 1991; this third version is intended to connect that history with a new generation.
The wall belongs to a self-storage company. The first mural, painted in 1991, featured a 7-foot Aztec warrior and was led by Jenny Mendez, then a 23-year-old student at the Kansas City Art Institute, according to the Kansas City Star. Mendez recruited young artists from the 23rd Street mural project and neighborhood youth. Now the cultural arts director at the Mattie Rhodes Center, Mendez is a third-generation Mexican American artist born and raised on Kansas City's West Side, and is helping guide the wall's latest transformation.
A Westside Community in Context
The mural's setting reflects a long history of Mexican and Latino settlement on the Westside: according to KCUR, Mexican immigrants and Latinos have settled there in large numbers since the Mexican Revolution. The Kansas City Star reports that the West Side community's population fell from more than 14,000 to 5,500 between 1950 and 1980. That history helps explain the significance of a neighborhood landmark devoted to the community's stories.
From Folklore to a Fresh Story of Reunion
The storage company, then known as Security Storage Properties, commissioned the first mural in time for Hispanic Heritage Month, the Star reported. In 2011, Mendez worked with Mattie Rhodes art teachers and students on a repainting that drew on Mexican folklore. She has said the original mural went untouched by taggers over the years, a detail she has carried into the current project.
The current work began in late September, with eight artists working under 28-year-old lead artist Liz Gonzalez, who was also selected as one of 150 artists for this year's Parade of Hearts. Gonzalez spent a couple of months securing permission from the storage facility's current owners. A neighborhood resident primed the wall at no charge, and Jackson County approved funding for mural supplies and stipends for participating artists and students, according to the Star.
A Girl's Journey Guided by Fireflies and Monarchs
The new design follows a little girl separated from her parents as she tries to reunite with them, guided by fireflies. Gonzalez has also painted monarch butterflies, which she describes as symbols of ancestors in Mexican culture and closely tied to Dia de los Muertos observances in early November. A sun at the center of the mural pays homage to the 1991 design.
The Star reported that Gonzalez said, “The main points were love, unity and community. Those were the big things.” She has also emphasized the importance of art by Mexican artists in a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood, where residents encounter the work in their daily lives. Gonzalez has shared project updates on Instagram that she said drew hundreds of viewers, and joked that walking the 683-foot wall helped her reach her daily 10,000-step goal.
Family Threads Run Through the New Wall
The mural includes portraits of artist Hector Perez's grandparents, painted by Perez with help from relatives, as well as handprints from local children. The mural's visual narrative progresses from the wall's south end toward its north end. Mendez painted a section across from a bus depot, where many people arriving from Mexico first reach Kansas City.
Mendez hopes families and other community members will see the renewed mural as something positive, with a story that can be read as either an immigrant story or a family story. She recalled that after the original mural went up in 1991, people stopped to talk, compliment the work and offer her commissions and gifts.
The repainting is expected to wrap up during the week after Thursday, closing out a project that began in late September. The new mural adds another chapter to a wall that has represented Kansas City's Mexican-American Westside for 35 years, with a story shaped around love, unity and community.
