Looking for Latino history in Chicago? It’s on the walls.

CHICAGO — On a recent Saturday morning, the sharp hiss of spray paint cut through the hum of summer in the city. Four artists worked through the 90-degree heat, hands moving in rhythmic strokes as murals began to take shape on brick.

The alley walls, once bare and aging, are now canvases layered with stories: In a community known as the “Mexico of the Midwest,” murals have transformed the very streets to reflect Chicago’s immigrant past and the pressures shaping its present.

Three new murals, painted this summer by a collective of four local artists, are more than just public art. At a time when immigrant communities are on high alert amid rolling raids by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement that have targeted cities around the country, including Chicago, artists have used their platforms to shine a light on the culture and history of immigrants. These murals, which are part of an ongoing project, showcase issues of family separation, ancestral pride and displacement.

“This is our protest against ICE: our immigration, murals and our culture,” said Juan Manuel Cortina, lead muralist and an immigrant who came to the U.S. as a child and has been protected under the the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act.

Cortina said that art, too, can be a form of protest. He added: “We’re already established here, so you cannot take that away.”

The murals are centered in Little Village, a neighborhood on the Southwest Side of Chicago, which is home to roughly 70,000 residents, according to community nonprofit Enlace, and is one of the densest neighborhoods in the city.

Along 26th Street, a two-mile stretch of businesses where the murals will be displayed, there are nearly 800 Latino-owned businesses, according to Jennifer Aguilar, executive director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce.

Jack Rossi, whose family has owned Rossi’s Custom Furniture in the neighborhood since 1962, said public art has helped draw visitors to the area — and boosted business. When the first murals in the neighborhood went up, he recalled, people would stop to take pictures. He said the artwork has helped nearby shops draw people in.

Little Village has long been a community of immigrants. In the early 20th century, Eastern European migrants dominated the area. By the mid-century, Mexican immigrants had transformed it into a vibrant hub of Latino culture. Roughly one in three residents of South Lawndale — the Chicago community area that encompasses Little Village — are foreign-born, according to the most recent Community Data Snapshot released in 2024. For decades, murals have celebrated this diverse heritage while also confronting issues like immigration, displacement and gentrification.

Omar Magana, who heads the nonprofit OPEN Center for the Arts in Little Village, said murals have long been a way for the community to leave its mark on the very walls of the neighborhood.

“Public art brings color to spaces,” Magana said. “A lot of the buildings are built to be the same color, but when you put a mural on a wall, it livens everything up.”

The artists have been working on the new set of murals for about a month. For them, painting these walls is as much about process as protest.

As they worked, the alley smelled of aerosol and fresh paint. Brushes, rollers and plated-steel cans scattered across the cracked pavement. Without scaffolds, the artists had to stretch on tiptoes and crouch low to fill every inch of the black-primed walls, trading supplies and encouraging one another as the sun beat down.

Mainly self-funded, the artists relied on borrowed supplies and shared paint to bring their visions to life.

Josue Aldana, who is known in the Little Village community as “Mr. Pintamuro,” said murals have long served as tools for dialogue in times of political and social tension.

“Historically, murals do represent conversations of current movements and I think we have the responsibility of politicizing our art,” Aldana said. “We’re in a position of power currently as artists, where we can use this mural to really share the lo que está pesado of the situation.”

Aldana’s first mural in the alley, created over a year ago in collaboration with Cortina, is titled “El Tianguis.” It captured the motion, vibrancy and daily life of Little Village, like a living snapshot of the community’s energy and people.

The mural that Aldana has shifted his attention to this year takes a more historical approach, drawing inspiration from Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire and the goddess Itzpapalotl, the piece depicts a land watched over by her spirit, rich with vibrant green tones and cultural symbolism. 

Emmanuel Gomez, whose mural “Mis Tesoros” touches on ICE raids and family separation, honed in on the experience of families as an homage to his own. His mural, featuring an alien at the center — a green creature with question marks for eyes that Gomez has made a signature character of his pieces — shows the figure embracing their children before leaving. He said he chose a bold color palette to balance the piece’s emotional weight.

“I saw it more as the journey our parents had to take and the journey that most Mexicans take to live the American dream,” he said.

Ramiro Huizar echoed that sense of sacrifice in his mural, “Lo que cargamos” which illustrates an immigrant parent carrying a smaller, childlike figure. The figure is a version of his character “cara de nopal” which symbolizes his evolving experience of balancing Mexican and American identities. The mural reflects his own journey crossing the border in 2001 with his father, aunt and cousins. 

“At the end of the day, I didn’t have a choice, right?” said Huizar, who will be live-painting a piece at the 2025 National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference in the Chicago Hilton on Saturday. “In a sense, it’s like they’re sacrificing their life for a better one but the frente de nopal is kind of like the cost of us integrating forces us to lose those roots.”

Cortina, who is also known among artists as “Uno,” sees the project as a way to honor ancestors while also encouraging a new generation to dream bigger.

“Something about Little Village makes me want to keep painting, to make the entire area just full of art and push the Mexican and Latino community to do more,” he said.

Byron Sigcho-Lopez, an elected official who represents Chicago’s 25th Ward and is also an immigrant from Ecuador, said it is critical for immigrants to lead conversations about their own communities.

“The young people working collectively to reflect the aspirations, dreams, concerns and frustrations of our immigrant community, especially as we see the atrocities happening to them today, are very important to telling that story,” he said.

Residents and visitors have already taken notice of the new additions to Little Village’s streets — even though the murals are not done yet.

“Little Village is a tourist destination for those who visit us from other states and neighboring cities. They always come to see the murals,” said Aguilar. “It’s a big part of the community, and I think that’s a positive thing because it brings attention to the businesses as well.”

As the sunset cast long shadows over layers of MTN 94 and DANG Hiflow spray paint drying on the walls, neighbors slowed to admire the murals.

A couple pointed and paused to pose for photos. A car crept by, the driver honking and lowering his window to whistle. A mother stopped mid-walk and angled the stroller she was pushing so her baby, strapped inside, could take in the colors.

Araceli Ramirez is a recent journalism graduate from Columbia College Chicago. She is a freelance reporter in Chicago and has worked with local nonprofit The Alliance 98 and aspires to be a national reporter. Reach her at byaraceliramirez [at] gmail [dot] com or on Instagram at @byaraceliramirez.