“A Chicano kid grows up with walls of many kinds around him. When somebody is born into that situation, there are several things he can do. He can ignore the walls and sink into apathy. Or he can become violent and try to blow up the walls. But there is a third way, a way that people have used for centuries. And that is to perform a kind of ritual magic to neutralize the force of the walls by decorating them with signs, symbols, and art. Chicano street writers choose this third way.”
- Gusmano Cesaretti, Street Writers (1975)

Untitled Indio and V. Cholo 1975 3281 Olympic Blvd. (walkway) Acrylic on stucco, 32’ x 24’ Leopard crouching in a tree.

If you’re interested in learning more about the graffiti and mural scene of East Los Angeles check out this terrific archive of vintage photographs on BrownPride.com.  There’s an incredible amount of information on the site attached to each picture.

Also, oli binnian found a book in the library the other day that was published in 1975 that has lots of old photos of Chicano graffiti from the early 70’s taken by Gusmano Cesaretti. He’s upload some of the pics on flickr here.

cheers