Lu

I paint murals because I see them as an artistic tool for forming and representing a community. When I paint, I look for what those living in the area ask for and form ties with a new community through painting. Prior to living in San Francisco, I lived in Mexico where I learned to channel my emotions and those of others into artwork that covers a wall. Now, living in SF, I use my work to connect with the community here and represent the futures we hope to see upon our walls, taking special care to consult and involve the surrounding community in the design and execution process of my community murals. Through my art, I aim to form connections above all. Connection to the community by gathering input before beginning a design, connection to the land by incorporating nature elements and connection to my own emotions by painting scenes of what I hope for the world and giving my imagination life and color. When painting, I like to create my own characters and make a fantasy world for them. I also enjoy creating realistic portraiture of people important to me and the world. My murals embody stories of queerness, female empowerment, resistance against the norm, and a strong alignment with social justice initiatives – this is what drives me to paint.
I have created murals for private commissions, mural festivals, graffiti jams and government sponsored projects across the U.S., Mexico, the U.K. and Colombia. For these murals I created my own design, budget, plan for execution and obtained materials and created the mural from start to finish. I have done this on murals up to 600 sq ft in size with and without assistants. I have also facilitated community murals, providing the guidance and support for children and communities to create their own murals. I have worked as part of artist teams to execute the design of other artists, on murals over 1,000 sq ft, using scaffolding, projectors and lifts to complete the project.