La Marcha por la Humanidad

Reyna paints the background as a vibrant sunset sky with bright yellow and red colors and depicts his embraced Ancient Americas and Mexican heritage. The icon of the feathered snake deity associated to ancient Mexican cosmogonies such as those found in the Popol Vuh is depicted in green. It rises against the red, yellow and orange colors that the artist used to depict the two captive male figures who are burning at the stake. Their facial expressions and the stress depicted on their bodies enhance the disturbance of the image. Behind them two architectural forms echo their contorted bodies in flames. Above on the background there is a structural form similar to those erected by the people from the Ancient Americas that function to situate the viewer as a witness of these past events that are unfolding in real time.

Creator: Mario Gonzalez and Ruben Reyna

Area: Houston / Third Ward-MacGregor

Contributor: Hector Garcia

Source: Center for Mexican American Studies

Uploaded by: Hector Garcia

Copyright status: In copyright

La Marcha por la Humanidad

Reyna depicts seven icons in Mexican art and history (from left to right): Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (1648 – 1695); Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753 – 1811); Benito Juárez (1806 – 1872); Fancisco I. Madero (1873 – 1913); Emiliano Zapata (1879 – 1919); Francisco Villa (1878 – 1923); and Lazaro Cardenas 1895 – 1928). Below them the figure of a woman inspired by “las Adelitas” carries the Mexican flag with a defying semblance. Her strong arms are tensed as she carries the undulating flag emphasizing the power of her movement forward, as she leads a unified body of campesinos marching with their machetes on hand. On the foreground, the composition incorporates the white color to depict them as they advance following up close after each other. The campesino in the foreground is about to strike with his machete. In this section Ruben Reyna represented the Mexican wars for independence and revolution.

Creator: Mario Gonzalez and Ruben Reyna

Area: Houston / Third Ward-MacGregor

Contributor: Hector Garcia

Source: Center for Mexican American Studies

Uploaded by: Hector Garcia

Copyright status: In copyright

La Marcha por la Humanidad

Mexican president Lazaro Cardenas rests his hand on a wooden cross. While a clerical figure emerges from behind the cross. He stretches his left arm requesting the tithe. Below him, a kneeled woman holds the dead body of an infant on her arms. The detail of the expression of sadness on her face and that of the limbs of the infant hanging, focus the viewers’ attention on her suffering as a mother who just lost her child. The form in which this image is rendered is reminiscent of the iconic representations known as pietà created to represent the suffering of Mary holding the dead body of Christ. The wooden cross behind her and the cardinal above her further suggest this reference. Reyna said he wanted to depict the “dead future for the mestizo in Mexico.”

Creator: Mario Gonzalez and Ruben Reyna

Area: Houston / Third Ward-MacGregor

Contributor: Hector Garcia

Source: Center for Mexican American Studies

Uploaded by: Hector Garcia

Copyright status: In copyright

La Marcha por la Humanidad

The main character is Gonzales’ self-portrait. The character of the Uncle Sam stepping over the US constitution. He is

represented as a calavera wearing the traditionally nationalistic suit with the colors of the US flag. He is leading the young Chicano towards a marionettist depicted holding a control bar which strings are attached to an Uncle Sam suit. Behind them, depicted in frontal view, emerges the apparition of a masked figure conjured by Gonzales to represent his ancient consciousness. The main figure is challenged to make a choice, on the one hand he can choose to achieve political awareness and struggle for identity politics, on the other hand he can choose to lose his consciousness and become acculturated. Gonzales depicts images of the future inner struggles shared by the individual members of diverse ethnic communities.

Creator: Mario Gonzalez and Ruben Reyna

Area: Houston / Third Ward-MacGregor

Contributor: Hector Garcia

Source: Center for Mexican American Studies

Uploaded by: Hector Garcia

Copyright status: In copyright

La Marcha por la Humanidad

Gonzales depicts the portraits of five icons in Chicano art and history (from left to right): Alicia Escalante (1933); César Chávez (1927 – 1993); José Ángel Gutiérrez (1944); Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales (1928 – 2005); and Reies Lopez Tijerina (1926 – 2015). Below them a figure of a woman carries the United Farm Workers flag. Her movement is emphasized by the way her hands tense on the standard. While she moves on a diagonal line towards the center of the mural the flag follows her trail midair. She leads a unified body of individuals. Gonzales is representing in this section the contemporaneous Chicano Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

Creator: Mario Gonzalez and Ruben Reyna

Area: Houston / Third Ward-MacGregor

Contributor: Hector Garcia

Source: Center for Mexican American Studies

Uploaded by: Hector Garcia

Copyright status: In copyright

La Marcha por la Humanidad Hotspot

Creator: Mario Gonzalez and Ruben Reyna

Area: Houston / Third Ward-MacGregor

Contributor: Hector Garcia

Source: Center for Mexican American Studies

Uploaded by: Hector Garcia

Copyright status: In copyright

La Marcha por la Humanidad

An allegory of Justice flanks the right side of the mural. She holds a torch and an unbalanced scale. She follows the movement of the masses and appears depicted with blonde hair and wearing highly saturated make up. Since its completion, the iconography of the allegory of Justice and of the Uncle Sam stepping over the US constitution had been the subject of many conflicting views. Gonzales said that they represent the justice in the system that “fails to recognize them.”

Creator: Mario Gonzalez and Ruben Reyna

Area: Houston / Third Ward-MacGregor

Contributor: Hector Garcia

Source: Center for Mexican American Studies

Uploaded by: Hector Garcia

Copyright status: In copyright