by: samantha bathauer
Maybe it is because I do not live on campus, but one day I remember I was walking around Peterson Hall and all of a sudden I saw this HUGE mural and thought to myself… “has this always been here?” I had no idea where this mural had suddenly sprung from! I just had to take a moment and stop and look at it to take it all in. It is a busy work of art that represents so much more than just a couple of faces and places. It represents a population that has made an impact on Southern California and the UCSD community, as well as minority groups that has been long underrepresented in UCSD campus life. This mural had a definitive date in which is was supposed to be moved, however, after recent activity on campus, it has been decided that it has found its home in front of Peterson Hall. It truly is a magnificent piece of artwork that captures the essence of a prominent aspect of San Diego culture. It is good to see UCSD moving in this direction and we will hopefully be seeing more of this type homage to other cultures underrepresented at UCSD, but who play a meaningful role on campus.
How do you feel about the mural? Do you think it is a progressive step for UCSD?
ucsdactivismart
Activism Art: UCSD 
Recently, Victor Ochoa, the muralist for Chicano Park, spoke to my class about the meanings of his pieces in the park. I agree with him in that murals are an effective way to display the history and people of a community. Having this mural as a part of our campus is making a positive impact at UCSD because it raises awareness and embraces the culture of minorities on our campus and in our community. Sadly, I think there are many students on campus who are close-minded to other cultures; this mural is a great way to expose another culture to them in a positive light.
I agree with Keyan and I feel that when students see this mural it momentarily makes them stop and think about it. It makes students and myself think about the history of those people, the intentions behind the mural, the sheer beauty of the mural, and the skill it took to produce such an artistic piece of work. I always wonder about this mural when I walk past and never knew the reasoning behind it or the intention of it I simply though it was beautiful and wondered what it meant. This site has been very useful and knowledgeable in terms of the art on campus and showing everything has a story.
As a former UCSD student, it is nice to see UCSD making more of an effort to acknowledge the diversity on campus. It is said though, that it took all that activity last quarter to have the mural stay there permanently. I hope to hear about more of this kind of stuff popping up around UCSD and having it brought to the attention not only of the current students, but also alumni.