Murals

Protect the People’s home was painted in 1970 in the Uptown neighborhood in Chicago in response to Urban Renewal. Painted on the side of a health clinic it was painted over two years later.

“It was really a great time for us, we had a chance to talk to the public; people could walk into our studio area and I developed this piece on Angela Davis and it was a piece that was meant to travel. I don't remember how many venues it went to but I remember one where Sallye Davis, Angela’s mother, came and it was a precious event. But we had, or it was determined, that Bill Walker and Edaw and John Weber and I were to be a part of it and at some point we made this decision to bring in Patlan and that was really a good decision.

Plus we got to purchase whatever paint we wanted and so we ordered the polytech acrylic, which was the best acrylic in the world and by far the most expensive acrylic in the world, and when we finished with the projects it continued to supply the mural movement in Chicago for endless projects! It was great stuff.” -Never The Same interview with Rebecca Zorach

“…at 5219 West Madison, Laramie, and Madison, and that's on the issue of the absentee landlord and on housing. And you really, you know if you're not a part of the community, or haven't lived there for a long time, you've really got to feel out issues. And in that community the issue really was housing. A group called Organization For A Better Austin, at that time, was extremely active in the community coordinating rallies and pickets of absentee landlords and slumlords on the west side. And so, it was in consultation with, actually, Gail Cincotta and others from OBA that we started to develop a theme. They talked it out verbally, in terms of different ways to, you know, attack the landlord and get concessions from the landlord. And it was our problem to put into visual terms or visual symbols, so that we could, sort of, get across what they had verbalized. And the team were mainly young people from the immediate community. And we talked down, we sat down and interviewed different people about approaches to the issue, the absentee landlord, and then we went back and started to sketch. And once our sketches were finished, we'd show them to people. You know, can you understand even on the sketch level, what does it mean. And if it doesn't come across in sketch level, and we'll back up and do some reworking. I mean, we want to guarantee that the theme is understood by the vast population of people.”

-Ray Patlan and Mark Rogovin discuss wall art with Studs Terkel

This mural adorns the present-day Armitage Avenue Methodist Church (then the Young Lords' People's Church and national headquarters of the Young Lords Organization (YLO)) in Lincoln Park. The mural text, "Tengo Puerto Rico en mi Corazon" translates to "I have Puerto Rico in my heart." The raised fist holding a gun signifies, solidarity, strength, and the YLO's unapologetically militant platform. The mural also depicts Che Guevara, Argentine Marxist revolutionary, leading figure of the Cuban Revolution, and a role model for YLO members. Point number 11 in the Young Lords Party 13-Point Program and Platform reads, "WE ARE INTERNATIONALISTS....We will defend our sisters and brothers around the world who fight for justice and are against the rulers of this country. QUE VIVA CHE GUEVARA!" - Chicago Mural Movement