Big Jim: A gallery of Guadalupe murals
These photos relate to the blog of Friday, Dec. 12.
The first two photos were taken in Altar, Sonora, an important jumping-off place on the trail north. They relate directly to Friday's blog. The remainder were photographed in Tucson, and illustrate the range of uses of this powerful religious/cultural image.
A gallery of Guadalupe murals
Mural on the road north from Altar, Sonora. Altar is an important stop on the road north-bound. This mural is one way in which would-be border-crossers are warned of the dangers ahead.
A gallery of Guadalupe murals
Detail of mural in previous photo.
A gallery of Guadalupe murals
A more focused use of the Virgin as cultural symbol. She stands in the center, supported not by the usual angel but by a Chicano. Radiating out from here are historical images and symbols if hope for the future. Taken at the Pizza Hut on West St Mary's Road in 1995.
A gallery of Guadalupe murals
Detail of the Perfection Plumbing mural by Tucson High students and Antonio Pazos, 950 S. Park Ave. This mural, now painted over, includes the Virgin of Guadalupe as one of a number of symbols of Chicano cultural identity, including, from left, a church, a deer dancer, revolutionary soldiers, low riders, the Farm Workers' Movement, and barrio graffiti.
A gallery of Guadalupe murals
The Virgin of Guadalupe spray-painted on the boarded-up window of a house near the corner of Fourth Avenue and 10th Street, March, 1982. Jim Griffith photo.
A gallery of Guadalupe murals
Detail of mural by Martin Moreno and Students on the south wall of La Pilita, near the El Tiradito shrine. The entire mural illustrates continuities in Chicano culture. This segment seems to illustrate the shrine, above and below ground, with a glimpse into the modern world among the clouds."
Sandy Payton was chosen on the same day of her audition.