Wall power
-- New College Merriam-Webster Dictionary
-- Oscar Wilde Urban murals are hardly new. Mexico's Mayans and Aztecs painted their temple and palace walls with images of kings and gods. During this country's Depression, muralists like Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco inspired and taught government-hired artists to transform the walls of federal buildings and libraries into canvases. In the mid-'60s, artists in Chicago painted the ``Wall of Respect'' in the city's South Side, and similar murals began appearing in black communities around the country. Today, Hispanic communities are largely responsible for the more than 1,000 public murals found within Los Angeles and southern California. In Miami's poorest and roughest neighborhoods, we found the unexpected: pockets of beauty in the guise of painted concrete islands, industrial walls thick with both rich and sun-shorn color. These murals were mildly entertaining at worst and eye-widening when at their best. They chronicle a time and community that might otherwise be overlooked because they are more than art. Murals are artifacts, storytellers, preservers of myths and truths. We found 10 murals that engaged us, and we started asking questions. Here's what we found:
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