EMA installs Black Lives Matter mural in Frick Center

This month’s featured artwork in the Founder’s Lounge of the Frick Center is a striking, 12-foot wide mural of the Black Lives Matter fist, which was installed by Elmhurst Minoritized and Allies (EMA) in early October. 

The mural has been separated into 10 distinct triangles and is decorated with signatures from students scrawled over each corner. 

“Giving anyone the opportunity to sign the mural brings the [campus] community closer to making a real change,” shared EMA’s Emma Alberico, who initiated the creation of the BLM mural. 

Rafael Blanco, the artist behind the painting and an art department professor at Elmhurst University, said that inviting various student organizations to complete the piece was symbolic in more than one respect. He believes that the mural is an “answer to the graffiti we had last year.” 

“We need to be more unified in expressing that it [the bias incidence] is not right,” said Blanco. 

As an artist, Blanco hopes that the mural creates intercultural understanding and exchange. “One of the most important elements of art is that the same image can be understood by almost everyone in the world,” he stated. “It is a universal language.”  

Alberico said that the piece provides students with a “voice” which can be used to open engaging dialogue about social justice-related issues. “We hope the mural will help open conversation that helps aid the education of one another on this subject.” 

“This student awareness is helping campus become more collective in efforts with the BLM movement,” she said. 

Blanco, who moved to the United States from Spain, believes that the painting of a fist holds “universal” significance. “The fist has been used [in] history [by] different cultures to signify resistance and resilience,” he said. 

“When I came to this county, I was fascinated with the diversity,” Blanco relayed. “At the same time I would like to see people more unified. I want to celebrate our differences so that way we can understand our commonalities together.” 

This past summer, Blanco was commissioned by the University of Nevada, where he completed multiple diversity-themed murals. He delivers the same passion while teaching, though most of it is reserved for the work he completes outside of classrooms.  

“When I’m teaching I have to be very objective. I cannot talk about politics, I cannot talk about religion.” Blanco said. “With [the BLM mural] project, I have more freedom.” 

Alberico and Blanco are currently working alongside the university’s faculty to locate a permanent place to display the mural. Blanco also shared that a similar large-scale project at EU is currently in the works, although it has not been publicly announced yet.