Film

After the tragic Uvalde school shooting in 2022, Abel Ortiz, an art professor at Southwest Texas Junior College, invited artists from across the state to come together to use the power of art to heal. Maria Hinojosa interviewed him for the following documentary.

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For more reporting on the aftermath of the Robb Elementary shooting, watch “After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics”

“After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics” is a FRONTLINE production with Futuro Investigates, a division of Futuro Media. The director is Amy Bucher. The producer and co-director is Heidi Burke. The writers are Amy Bucher and Heidi Burke. The correspondent is Maria Hinojosa. The documentary includes reporting from Texas Tribune reporters Uriel J. García, Jinitzail Hernández, Zach Despart and reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative, Perla Trevizo. The editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune is Sewell Chan. The executive producers of Futuro Investigates are Peniley Ramírez and Maria Hinojosa. The president of Futuro Media is Julio Ricardo Varela. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

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Transcription

MARIA: AFTER THE TRAGIC EVENTS OF MAY 24TH 2022, ONE MAN IN UVALDE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP HIS COMMUNITY. 

ABEL: TO ME, I THINK ONE OF THE MOST OVERLOOKED FUNCTIONS OF ART IS ITS POWER TO HEAL. MAYBE BECAUSE IT’S A SLOW PROCESS, BUT IT WORKS. 

MARIA:  ABEL ORTIZ, AN ART INSTRUCTOR AT SOUTHWEST TEXAS JUNIOR COLLEGE, FIRST THOUGHT ABOUT PAINTING A MURAL, BUT QUICKLY REALIZED ONE WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH.

ABEL: ORIGINALLY, THAT WAS THE IDEA TO CREATE SORT OF A MEMORIAL ART WALK WHERE IN BETWEEN THE MURALS YOU CAN REFLECT. AND CONTEMPLATE AND HOPEFULLY THE MURALS WILL BRING SOME HOPE. 

MARIA: WITH THE HELP OF VOLUNTEER ARTISTS FROM ALL OVER TEXAS, DOWNTOWN UVALDE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED.

MARIA: WITH THE HELP OF VOLUNTEER ARTISTS FROM ALL OVER TEXAS DOWNTOWN UVALDE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED. 

ABEL: HOLA, MARIA. 

MARIA: ¿CÓMO ESTÁS, ABEL? 

ABEL: MUY BIEN, GRACIAS. 

MARIA: OH MY GOD, IT’S LIKE A WHOLE EXPERIENCE, YOU KNOW? NOT JUST ONE LITTLE WALL, YOU HAVE TO WALK AND YOU HAVE TO THINK. I LOVE THE FACT THAT IT’S IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH. 

ABEL: EXACTLY WHAT I WANT. 

ABEL: ME BEING FROM MEXICO, MY FIRST LANGUAGE IS SPANISH, UM, I FAILED THE FIRST GRADE BECAUSE I COULDN’T SPEAK ENGLISH. AND SO I HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE AS AN IMMIGRANT BEING HELD BACK, GOING THROUGH THE WHOLE ASSIMILATION PROCESS THAT BICULTURALISM IS IN MY BLOOD. 

MARIA: ESTÁ EL ESPAÑOL Y ESTÁ EL INGLÉS, AND THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT UVALDE EN ESTE MOMENTO. 

ABEL: RIGHT, THESE MURALS BECOME UNIVERSAL. NOT ONLY ARE THEY MEMORIALS BUT THEY BECOME SACRED SPACES, AND WE ARE NOW FROM DIFFERENT ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS WE CAN NOW RELATE TO SACRED SPACES. 

MARIA: THERE’S BEEN QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THIS COMMUNITY IS GETTING WHAT IT NEEDS TO HEAL, AND I AM WONDERING HOW YOU THINK ABOUT ART AND PUBLIC SPACES AS A WAY TO ALSO HEAL? 

ABEL: THE MURALS DO PROVIDE A SENSE OF COMFORT THAT CAN START THAT HEALING PROCESS. THE FAMILIES COME IN AND HAVE DINNER IN FRONT OF THE MURALS. ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS THEY PUT BALLOONS AND FLOWERS IN FRONT OF THE MURALS. 

ABEL: A LOT OF THE FAMILIES WERE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN PAINTING THE MURALS TO SORT OF GIVE THEM A SENSE OF BELONGING. OVER TIME, WE START TO SEE THESE WORKS AS NOT ONLY TRIBUTES BUT MEDICINE FOR THE SOUL. 

END 

Portrait Mural Artists

Ruben Esquivel

Sandra Gonzalez

Ana Hernández

Filiberto Mendieta

Cristina Noriega

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