My Mural

In one of my first year seminar classes, our final project was to create a mural. The course was focused on Mexican Muralism so after spending months analyzing many different murals, we were ready to create our own. I decided to use a few different methods. First, I colored a few mandalas from a coloring book with gel pens and then cut out the shapes of the lizard and butterflies. Next, I took pictures of those cut outs and used photoshop to edit each piece into my selected rainbow background. I embellished the image with specific words aimed at emphasizing the message within the mural.

What was the message I wanted to convey? Well, it starts with where I hypothetically would place this mural. I wanted it to be hung on a wall in a children’s hospital one day. My younger brother has suffered from two brain tumor’s in the last eight years so my inspiration came from the light and happiness of the people in the many hospitals we have spent time in. I included specific words like brave, strong, and loved because I want the kids who view it, to know that all the darkness and pain they are going through is not something they have to go through alone. It’s a message of hope.

Many kids go through intense surges that leave them with big scars. The point of including two different organisms was to help children understand that even the ones who are not always known for their beauty, like a lizard, are still loved cared for just as deeply. And before the butterfly was the beautiful, colorful being that it is, it was once a caterpillar who had to climb out of his cocoon before he became more of himself. Recovery is a long process for many illnesses and injuries so having reassurance that what they look like is enough, was super important to me. Our bodies are very rarely the same after they have gone through something so traumatic but as time passes, we learn to cope and to gain back strength in ways we never knew were possible. Our bodies are not meant to be the same and for children who many not understand why they are in pain or why they look different, surrounding them with messages of acceptance and grace is one way of keeping their hope alive. Hospitals are often a place of fear, of exhaustion, of grief. But it is my hope that maybe one day, I can see this image come to life.