WEBVTT

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This is take one, roll one, 31289, this is the interview.

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Okay well, one of the reasons, something that I saw the difference in colors when I came

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to Chicago from Puerto Rico is that probably because Puerto Rico is a tropical island,

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you see a lot of colors and flowers and everything, here I hardly see any colors, like the buildings,

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to me we don't see the colors, they are dark gray or brown, but it's not different colors

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and that's something that I noticed when I came to Chicago and compared to Puerto Rico.

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Okay, be sure to look at Susan and not at the camera, you can look at other places.

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Alright, let's do it again, that was real good, just the contest from the college, but this time...

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Take two.

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Okay, something that I noticed the difference in colors with the murals when I came to Chicago is that

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compared to Puerto Rico, I mean the bright color that we have there, compared to Chicago,

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every time I walk in the neighborhood, here in Chicago I see those colors again,

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and it reflects some of my, you know, the way I used to see it before in Puerto Rico,

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and that's one of the things that caught my attention, besides so many other things on the murals.

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Okay, stop.

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Scene two, take one.

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Okay, ready.

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Okay, go ahead.

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Well, the murals, when I see it, I see that they represent us, I mean the Latino community,

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the Puerto Rican community, when I see the paintings, to me I see my own life in a way.

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When we first came to Chicago, there was no newspaper, I mean there was, but not informative,

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I mean, well enough, so those murals are telling us continuously,

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remember the reasons why you come to this country, don't forget who you are,

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and they're controversial, I mean, they may not...

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A lot of people agree and disagree, we all talk about, you know, about the work,

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but I like to see it, because we have to walk every day and see it, and it's part of the community,

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I respect the people who did the work, and I believe they did it to help the community,

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they may not, we may not agree with their point of view, political or any other reasons,

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but I agree that they are doing it for the well of the community.

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Okay, very good.

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Scene two, take two.

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Okay, when you're ready, Ivan.

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Okay, for us to be, to get used to live in a new city, with new people,

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people that are not, that we don't know each other in a way,

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I mean, this mural helped us create our community,

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there was no newspapers around, no other way of communication,

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we used to have, there was a few, like, radio stations,

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putting up music all day, because probably they didn't have the facility to,

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reporters or whatever, so they only put music continuously,

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and here come those murals, and in a way they were telling us continuously who we are,

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and the reason why we came here, and we may not, we may not see now,

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you know, when we see it now, probably it's not the same, like, 20, 25 years ago,

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because everything is changing, I mean, what I'm telling you now, probably not,

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what's happening right now, because we are growing up,

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this is a wider community right now, and we have different groups,

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from Latin Americans and other countries, but when I first came here, it was not,

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I mean, we were starting, everything was coming out,

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and those things helped us, in a way, see it every day,

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that's one of the reasons I started photographing the murals,

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because when I photograph one of those, and I put it on the wall, my house,

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someone that comes to my house, they say, I seen that work somewhere,

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isn't it on the corner of this street, so they seen it,

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but it's not until they sit in my house, that they recognize what, you know,

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now they pay more attention, they start asking me,

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why did I photograph that mural, and I used to tell them what I see,

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you know, on the mural, it could be political, religions,

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but they start asking questions, and I didn't know the artist who put,

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you know, that was my point of view, on the murals, to see it,

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and, you know, there are so many reasons why they're there,

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that probably a lot of people like the murals,

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I mean, in the community, because something that I notice continuously,

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is that there are no graffiti on it, there are a few,

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because there is no way to stop, but if you look down to the black,

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you see more graffiti all over the walls,

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and I don't know why, on the murals, the kids respect the murals,

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I mean, they're not 100% protected, but I don't know,

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the murals are telling them, you're doing it to yourself, and you,

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you know, and that's what I see, on the murals.

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Okay, can you tell us how you pick a mural to photograph?

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What, how did you decide?

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Again, if you could explain how you pick a mural.

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Well, when I pick a mural to photograph,

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usually, I won't go out of my neighborhood to do it,

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I mean, I don't chase, I don't go looking for murals,

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it's, I don't know, probably because they're not over,

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not all over the city in Chicago,

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it's like they are in the ethnic group, ethnic communities,

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I don't know, probably if I go to an upper class neighborhood in Chicago,

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they're against that, because that will not look nice in their neighborhood,

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so I don't know if that's true or not, I'm not, you know,

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but I've been around Chicago,

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and I only see those murals in certain areas in Chicago,

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so when I look into it, I try to study what the artist wants to tell us

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about what's going on around, so then I study that,

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I may not see what the artist wants me to see,

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but I create my own, and I give credit to those guys who are doing it,

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and I start, you know, looking around, taking photographs,

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but in a way I believe they represent what's going on,

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you know, what's happened to us, everyday drugs, dropouts,

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no housing, someone is crying, someone is telling us,

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up and up, I mean, look around you, you have to do something,

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because we're here to stay, I mean, we're not going anywhere,

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we're part of this community,

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and we may not have the power on the media

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to let people know that we're here to stay,

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but that mural there are telling the people,

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you know, we're here to stay, let's fight,

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but not fight in a way that we're going to destroy things,

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that we have to educate ourselves,

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and we need more housing, we need better education,

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and we can look forward, we can look,

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but when I pick a mural, before I photograph,

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I look into it in different ways,

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I study the pictures, and I like the colors,

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I don't know why I have colors, I like the colors,

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probably because they're here in Chicago,

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and that's one of the reasons why.

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Something else about the murals is that they're very informative

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about what's going on with the teenagers in our community,

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I mean, every morning when I go to the bus stop

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to wait for the bus, there's a group of people,

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I mean the students, they're going to school,

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but none of them drop a quarter there to buy the newspaper.

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They're telling that we're in front of the mural,

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but that mural will tell them not to drop out from school,

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to stay out of drugs, there's so much information there,

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they may laugh at the guy because he's drunk,

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and he's on the floor, but the artist is telling them

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this could be you if you don't keep looking toward the future,

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and there are times that I look around and I say

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none of them bought the paper,

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I mean not even for the sports section,

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I mean it's like they don't care,

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probably I used to do the same thing,

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but right now that's the way I see it,

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that the murals are there,

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and every time when they have to walk to get the bus.