[Leica] Friday Follies

[Don Dory]

Greetings to all.  As mentioned last week I stumbled upon a plethora of
folk art at the dam end of the city lake.  Traditionally this is in East
Austin which was heavily hispanic and somewhat African American.  In recent
years it has heavily gentrified as musicians and artists could find
inexpensive housing which led to younger adults to want to live next to the
cool kids.  So it was a surprising to find this extensive collection and
this is maybe 10% on what is essentially two walls and supports for high
tension wires coming off the hydro electric plant.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/don_dory_gmail_com/Austin+Signs/Azteca.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/don_dory_gmail_com/Austin+Signs/Aztec+Sun.jpg.html

This one is representative of portraits honoring Tejanos who made a
difference in citizens lives in the 60's:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/don_dory_gmail_com/Austin+Signs/Raul+Salinas.jpg.html

This is an older bit of art celebrating life in the home country:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/don_dory_gmail_com/Austin+Signs/Respecto.jpg.html

Then we find many murals of idealized life:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/don_dory_gmail_com/Austin+Signs/idealized+scene.jpg.html

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/don_dory_gmail_com/Austin+Signs/idealized+suburbia.jpg.html

Last, as we move away from the walls we find different art.  The first is a
celebration of a child who died from cancer but the parents wanted to offer
some hope.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/don_dory_gmail_com/Austin+Signs/Winnie.jpg.html

This last one is newer with the addition of a little bit of cultural
appropriation.  Some of the recent protests reached this far from the
downtown and the work on the left is understandable and not out of the
spirit of tejano protest:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/don_dory_gmail_com/Austin+Signs/Please.jpg.html

So the appellation used is taken from one of the panels discussing how they
felt about themselves.  As an outsider to the Anglo community of the
sixties but American citizens they used this nomenclature to say they were
full blown texans as well as chicano.  For our non US readers many
residents of Texas consider themselves Texans first and foremost while
admitting that they might be US citizens as well.  As an example it was
only maybe 15 years ago that Texas allowed its power grid to be connected
to the larger US grid.

All the best until next time.


-- 
Don
don.dory at gmail.com
-- 
Don
don.dory at gmail.com