For International Women’s Day: Judy Baca’s “Hitting the Wall”

In honor of International Women’s Day, here is Judy Baca’s mural “Hitting the Wall” painted, whitewashed and then re-painted on the 101 Freeway:

I photographed this framed version of Baca’s mural at the MOLAA’s Judy Baca: Memorias de Nuestra Tierra, a Retrospective which has been extended. The exhibit will now close on March 27.

In his book “Folklore of the Freeway,” Eric Avila wrote this about Baca’s mural “Hitting the Wall”:

“Using paint, skill, and imagination to transform a modern freeway into an ancient wall gives force to the idea of feminine strength. This, to put it crudely, is the main message of the mural…. Although the mural celebrates the victory of women, it disputes the sturdiness of the freeway. Instead the artist renders the freeway, as other feminist critics have done through literature and poetry, as the previous product of a man-made society on the verge of collapse.”

Happy International Women’s Day!