Several murals on the 18th Street Pink Line station have been whitewashed and the Pilsen community isn’t happy about it.
A Facebook post with pictures showing barren panels inside the station has been shared more than 500 times since Thursday night, with many users asking why portions of the decades-old murals were painted over.
First-year Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) said his office wasn’t informed of the whitewashing beforehand and is calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office for answers.
“The destruction of public art is utterly reprehensible and disrespectful to the artists, the cultures that make up Pilsen, and all of us who live here,” Sigcho-Lopez said in a statement Friday. “I have zero tolerance for the whitewashing of our community, and I’m in touch with some of the original artists to discuss recreating the murals on the station walls.”
The mayor’s office and Chicago Transit Authority did not respond to requests for comment.
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The murals were painted in the 1990s by the late artist Francisco Mendoza and students from Gallery 37. Mendoza was born in South Chicago and taught at Peter Cooper Elementary and Jose Clemente Orozco Academy in Pilsen for 25 years. He died in 2012.
“Covering the steel panels of the station wall, several murals symbolize and tell stories about the neighborhood that the 18th station serves,” according to the CTA. “Each of the colorful murals illustrates a different story of rich Mexican heritage while also depicting many important cultural icons in Mexican history.”
Murals on 18th St Pink Line entrance are being painted over. This art work was part of the Summer Work Program...
Posted by Eglė Malinauskaitė on Thursday, December 5, 2019
Carlos Ballesteros is a corps members of Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of Chicago’s South Side and West Side.
