When Salvador Barajas painted his first mural in Chicano Park in 1974, it was an act of protest.
When he finished his third Chicano Park mural this month, it was an act of love.
Chicano art master Salvador Barajas applies the finishing touches on his latest Chicano Park mural—his third.
Barajas, 75, has retired from the U.S. Air Force and a long career as a commercial artist, but he is busier than ever. A sprightly former boxer, his activism and art packs a punch.
“We don’t want to just paint pretty pictures, we want to create something that tells the story about this community and its needs,” he said.
Barajas recently completed a new mural that pays homage to the work done by the Border Angels human rights organization. It is a stunning depiction of the Virgen de Guadalupe placing water in the desert to prevent the deaths of migrants. Flanking La Virgen is a happy, nuclear Latino family and a group of activists anchored by the legendary musician and teacher Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez. It is the second Border Angels mural Barajas has painted in Chicano Park.
Border Angels founder Enrique Morones said Barajas is one of the world’s greatest Chicano muralists. He said he had wanted for years to commission Barajas to paint a Border Angels mural. Ironically, the surprise election of Donald Trump made it possible.
“After Trump was elected many people donated to Border Angels,” said Morones. “I reached out to Sal and asked him to paint a mural about love has no borders and no border wall. There was a great response to the mural, so I asked Sal for another one. His work and support has been outstanding.”
Barajas painted the first Border Angels mural in 2016 on a tall support pillar. It depicts classic themes of immigration. A worker sends money back to his family in Mexico while being choked by two hands. One hand represents the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that deports immigrants, the other a Mexican government unable to provide good jobs for its citizens. Other images include the so-called “promise land,” portraits of former Border Angels activists, Roberto Martinez and Micaela Saucedo, and the messages “No Border Wall” and “Love Has No Borders” written on crosses.
In 2012 Barajas and some of the original artists were commissioned to restore the murals of Chicano Park, which were painted in 1974 following the 1970 uprising. That year, members of the Logan Heights community seized the land under the Coronado Bridge after the city of San Diego went back on its promise to build a park as mitigation for the vivisection of the community by the I-5 freeway. When the city tried to sneak in a police station, the community said “¡No Mas!”
Yes, it can be done! Barajas shows that the spirit that helped created Chicano Park still lives.
Barajas restored and updated the Founders Mural at the southeastern edge of Chicano Park along Logan Avenue. His update includes Sanchez, artist Michael Schnorr (a former SWC professor) and Chicano rights activist Herman Baca.
Barajas is a San Diego County treasure, said Baca.
“Sal is a great artist and a great Chicano,” he said. “He has been active for almost 50 years. His legacy will live forever in Chicano Park and all the places he has painted his murals.”
La Virgen of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico and that nation’s most beloved icon, but even red tape can bog her down. Shortly after he began painting in early January, Barajas was interrupted and notified by the city of San Diego that he needed to have a right-of-entry permit to continue the mural. Although Barajas had already completed about half of the mural, he was forced to wait two months for a attorney’s signature on the permit before he could continue his work.
His new mural is 12 feet high and just over 20 feet wide, and combines the power of La Virgen with the work of the Border Angels. Barajas brilliantly married classic Mexican motifs with contemporary human rights activism. La Virgen holds a gallon of water in one hand and a cross in another that reads “No Olvidados” (Do Not Forget). Her water represents the organization’s life-saving Water Drop project, where volunteers distribute water across the desert near the border for migrants travelling north.
A group of people to the left of the Virgen de Guadalupe represent Day Labor Outreach, a monthly event where volunteers visit immigrants outside of Home Depot stores and provide food. Depicted in the crowd are Dolores Huerta, a civil rights hero who co-founded the United Farmworkers Association, board member Hugo Castro, Border Angel general manager Dulce Aguirre and Chunky Sanchez, who died in November 2016.
On the right side a happy family hugging is modeled on Morones’ sister, nephew, mother and father. This image references the Door of Hope project, emotional events where the international border gate at Friendship Park was opened briefly to allow family member’s who live on the opposite sides of the border to hug each other. Border Patrol Chief Scott Rodney cancelled the events early this year. Above the mural, large white letters proclaim: “Amor, si se puede,” (Love, yes we can).
Barajas is the owner and creative director of the graphic design company Motivational Design. He produces posters and other creative materials that promote heritage, literacy, diversity, bilingualism and higher education. Messages on the posters, written in English and Spanish, include “Be bilingual, be smart,” “Proud of my heritage,” “Learn to read, read to learn,” “Education is the key” and “Diversity achievers.”
Barajas said Latino families are trying to retain their culture and heritage, and there is a need for bilingual education.
“One of the biggest problems in our community is that as Latinos get assimilated here, their parents push them to speak English only,” he said. “Bilingualism is a gift that should be nurtured. It binds Latinos to their heritage and also gives them an advantage in their careers.”
Barajas was president of the PTA and the Bilingual Advisory chairperson at his children’s elementary school. He realized that children needed motivational images of people who look like them to learn and appreciate where they came from. He got his business license in 1995 and started to promote the importance of education through his art. His posters can be found in schools throughout San Diego County and across the state.
Born in 1943 in the village of Nio, Sinaloa in an adobe house, Barajas was raised in the pioneering Colonia Libertad community of Tijuana. Once a month he meets for a rousing breakfast in Chula Vista with about 30 of his surviving classmates of his all-boys elementary school. He is working with a librarian in Tijuana to collect and display photographs and artifacts from Colonia Libertad.
Barajas’ relationship with Morones began in 1999 when the Mexican Heritage Foundation, founded by TV journalist Maria Velasquez, nominated 100 people as “role models, visionaries and pioneers” in the Latino community. Barajas and Morones were both on the list.
“All 100 nominees had to be approved by the board members of the Foundation and Enrique was one of them,” he said. “That’s how he knew about me.”
Barajas is ready to defend Chicano Park from those that would do it harm. Here he stands in front of the completed mural.
Retirement may never come for Barajas, he confessed with a grin. He is too busy creating baseball memorabilia, educational art and his towering murals. The former boxer is also willing to fight for his people and Chicano Park. When white supremacists threatened to deface murals in Chicano Park earlier this year, the septuagenarian was standing squarely in front of his Border Angels mural, linking arms with several Chicano activists who encircled the pillar.
“Those vatos will have to come through me first,” he said in a rare moment when his grin was gone.
He was not kidding.
Evil backed down.
The Chicanos won again.
