WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.640 --> 00:00:10.420 This is scene four, take one, roll two. 2 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:18.040 Okay, I believe the murals, well that's the way I see it. I believe it's like ours, it's 3 00:00:18.040 --> 00:00:24.900 like the Latinos, it represents us. Some other group may have those, but I've never seen 4 00:00:24.900 --> 00:00:31.540 those in some other community. If you go to the Mexican, you see murals everywhere in 5 00:00:31.540 --> 00:00:37.300 the Puerto Rican community, even some other Cubans community that we have a small one 6 00:00:37.300 --> 00:00:44.600 here in Chicago. You can start seeing those murals, they represent us. And I don't know 7 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:52.900 the reason, it could be that we are the one who has to struggle here. I mean, we want 8 00:00:52.900 --> 00:00:58.520 to, I don't know, probably want a piece of the pie. We're telling the people, we're 9 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:07.380 here, we're fighting. And everyone had to see those murals. Even, they put, I don't 10 00:01:07.380 --> 00:01:14.700 know if they put those murals for us directly, some of them. Or they'll do it for, well, 11 00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:20.480 a mural would be seen by so many people. Even the people in power, people that have the 12 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:31.460 power in the city to help us. And every time they pass by, they had to see it. And driving 13 00:01:31.460 --> 00:01:40.600 there every day, they're going to start asking questions, what do these people want? And 14 00:01:41.780 --> 00:01:45.400 I see it like it's ours, because when you go to Puerto Rico, when you go to Mexico, 15 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:50.680 when you go to Latin America, you see murals. But there it's different. The murals there 16 00:01:50.680 --> 00:02:00.000 are against the government there. They want to fight for independence, they want to fight 17 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:08.260 to get control. Probably the message is the same, but they present it in a different way. 18 00:02:11.220 --> 00:02:15.660 That's how I see the murals. I mean, it belongs to us, but I don't know, I respect that. 19 00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:37.260 Also the murals represent not only is a message, but also is art. We had to remember that 20 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:46.460 it's not only the message. We had to see the creative of the person, how he's being creative 21 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:58.680 in doing it. We had to give credit to those persons who are doing it. For us, it's more 22 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:09.680 than seeing a painting at the museum, because there, it doesn't represent us. First, we 23 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:15.460 don't see anything in those. I don't understand the painting that I see at the museum. You 24 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:23.060 see a couple of brushes here and there, but I don't know what they mean. Probably because 25 00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:28.320 some other people don't have problems, and those are their problems, that is being represented 26 00:03:28.320 --> 00:03:37.740 on those paintings. But to us, the murals represent our problems. We see it every day, 27 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:46.240 and we don't see the painting at the museum interested to us. To tell you the truth, I 28 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:55.680 don't understand, probably because I'm not that much into art. I respect their view, 29 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:01.680 even though I don't understand what they want. If they come to me and explain to me 30 00:04:02.860 --> 00:04:11.200 that the paint and the artist are trying to reflect their problems, then probably I would 31 00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:16.420 understand what Picasso means. I would say, well, those are the problems from the rich 32 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:24.280 people that he's painting. But I don't understand their art. But the murals is our 33 00:04:24.280 --> 00:04:29.080 museum. You see, you look this way, you see one, you look the other way, you see another 34 00:04:29.080 --> 00:04:37.480 one. You don't have to know anything about art to understand a mural. You know that that's 35 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:46.780 your life, that that's the way you live, that that's your future. Someone is, the painters, 36 00:04:46.780 --> 00:04:56.780 they put it in a way, they're realistic. I mean, when you see the bottle of drugs there, 37 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.860 they're on painting the other way. That's the way you see it. That's the way you see 38 00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:09.780 it on the street. And mural photos, it's our museum in a way, but they're realistic. 39 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:24.960 Okay, stop. Scene four, take three. Okay, I started photographing those murals because 40 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:31.160 the community, I don't know what's going on, but we're losing a lot of property through 41 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:39.920 fires. The city wants the land and their building, and they tore down those buildings. And I 42 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:44.140 don't know if someone else is doing it, but I started doing it. I started photographing 43 00:05:44.140 --> 00:05:51.340 those murals in order to preserve, I was doing it for myself. I never done anything 44 00:05:51.340 --> 00:05:58.340 for any other people. And I don't belong to any group. I just go out, grab my camera, 45 00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:04.940 and I said, I know they're going to tore down that building. And I want to maintain, and 46 00:06:04.940 --> 00:06:13.800 I want to keep that painting with us, that piece of art that reflects our life. That's 47 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:20.620 one of the reasons that I always go out and photograph the murals. And I not only try 48 00:06:20.620 --> 00:06:27.300 to do it in an artistic way, just taking the picture. And there are times that I present 49 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:40.480 some of my friends, and I see, I would let them know where this mural was. And they feel 50 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:47.160 sad about it because we lost something. But the city, the neighborhood that we live right 51 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:57.060 now, that I belong to, they're going through a lot of rehab. Different people are moving 52 00:06:57.060 --> 00:07:07.560 in. We're moving out. We don't see it. We just keep moving. And I would like to see 53 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:16.260 my community stay and move forward where we are right now. But we don't have no control 54 00:07:16.260 --> 00:07:18.900 over the property. We have to move. 55 00:07:38.660 --> 00:07:38.720 Thank you. 56 00:08:08.660 --> 00:08:08.720 Thank you. 57 00:08:38.660 --> 00:08:38.720 Thank you. 58 00:09:08.660 --> 00:09:08.720 Thank you. 59 00:09:38.660 --> 00:09:38.720 Thank you. 60 00:10:08.660 --> 00:10:08.720 Thank you. 61 00:10:38.660 --> 00:10:38.720 Thank you. 62 00:11:03.500 --> 00:11:04.900 Thank you.