SS22.STSTORIES SOUTH OF 22ND INFO
FEEDALL GALLERY
CATEGORIES
Viva El Pueblo
Arts & Culture
  Research
  Multimedia
  Documenting Resilience
  
Jessica Wolff

Viva El Pueblo, 2023, 9 images, archival inkjet print, various sizes, accompanying soundtrack. 

Artist’s Statement:

When describing the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, Congressman Raúl Grijaliva once said, “there’s a presence there.” In the nine-image series project, Viva El Pueblo, I give that presence a face. By taking inspiration from the Chicano and post Chicano art movements—specifically from artist David Tineo—I create images that mix history and symbolism together. In doing so, I am able to tell the story of El Pueblo while also looking into its future. 

Each image in this project was developed from oral and written histories of El Pueblo combined with visual inspiration from the artworks and murals of David Tineo, and in its premiere installation at El Pueblo, it was accompanied by a curated playlist of audio materials. One specific mural Gentes Unidas Nuestra Raza (1979) that Tineo worked on with Danny Garza, which graces the northside of the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, features a figure with outstretched arms. I interpret this mural as a welcome sign to the community. In the featured image for the zine, Like Monarchs, I use a similar pose along with monarch butterflies to represent people being drawn to and welcomed into the space that is El Pueblo. My photograph Like Monarchs welcomes you to view the other images in the project Viva El Pueblo and explore the history and personality of the center. Three of the nine, including Like Monarchs are featured in this exhibition, while the rest are printed in the inaugural zine of El Pueblito. A process image for the project was created and can be viewed in the “process” section of the exhibition, providing transcribed quotes from community storytellers, a QR code to listen to them, and source imagery referenced by each image. 

An invaluable source of inspiration for my project is the work of David Tineo. Using Tineo’s art and murals as a study in Chicano and post-Chicano art, I found a particular interest in his work due to the dominant presence of his mural Gentes Unidas–Nuestra Raza (1979), which he produced in collaboration with Danny Garza, at the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center. This led me to explore and study many of his murals around Tucson and his artwork featured in the Tucson Museum of Art exhibition catalog Viva David Tineo!: A Retrospective of Tucson’s Muralist and Art Educator (2010). 

Special thanks to my family, including Jasmin Wolff, Alex Arias, Emilio Arias, Mia Portela, Octavio Peru, Cheyanne Martinez, Mina Wolff, and Tony Wolff, who posed for my images and helped me behind the scenes of each photograph. Finally, I would like to acknowledge leaders and community members, Congressman Raúl Grijalva, Raúl E. Aguirre, Richard Barker, Nancy Johnson, Anna Sanchez, and Becki Quintero, whose words about El Pueblo and its community are at the center of my project.
Like Monarchs2023, archival inkjet print, 13” X 19.5”, from the Viva El Pueblo Project



“And I think that’s what has guided me. That where I’m from, and what we do, and what my family is, that we’re not outliers in this society. That there’s a presence there. And I think that’s been a very important guide for me. It’s got me through some good times, and it’s got me through some bad times. The sense that you’re from somewhere, that you have a place. And it doesn’t have to be geographical, it can be a lot of things. I think the center kind of gave us, a lot of us young folk at the time, an excuse to experiment. You know, that maybe art and politics are not separated, maybe art and community are not different things.”

- Congressman Raúl Grijalva
“So, so people really felt the tug of community and the power of, you know symbolically and actively, because there were a lot of things happening at that center all the time. And I think that the murals began the process of bringing the community together to do great work on behalf of itself.” 

- Raúl E. Aguirre







Gentes Unidas - Nuestra Raza (El Pueblo), David Tineo and Danny Garza, 1979



An Attitude2023, archival inkjet print, 10” X 15”, from the Viva El Pueblo Project
A Sense of Pride2023, archival inkjet print, 10” X 15”,  from the Viva El Pueblo Project





Jaguar Warrior (Chiapas), David Tineo, 1996
Corn Princess, David Tineo, ca. late 1990s
Para Los Niños (Davis Bilingual), David Tineo, 1984






Viva El Pueblo2023, archival inkjet print, 20” X 30”, from the Viva El Pueblo Project



“We were told to give away free cheese and food, and I was really against that, I thought it was demeaning and patronizing. But, that was the rule, the city said. So how do you turn this sad situation, but a needed situation- you’re giving people food, government commodities, surplus. How do you turn it into something that both provides a service, but makes a statement? So we asked the theater group to do skits while people waited in line to get their food. So they did Nancy and Ronald Reagan and the theme was “let her make quiche” you know, and so that’s what the press covered, the skits and that the people were having a great time.” 

- Congressman Raúl Grijalva 
“The banner of all the murals, and the consciousness, and the cosmic presence of our culture. The musicians, and the theater, Teatro Libertad performed there many times. I actually did a play there with Barclay Goldsmith called: Los Muertos Nunca Mueren and it was about the Mexican Revolution, and he cast me as a general or something, I can’t remember, but you know I was there doing my thing. So I think, again, I’m gonna use the word again, emblematic of the communities, you know, wanting to resolve issues, to be more politicized, more civically minded and to come together in a variety of ways under the murals, and under the artists to do so many things.”
- Raúl E. Aguirre





Women Carrying Watermelon, David Tineo, ca. late 1980s
Lillian Cavett Student Mural Project (Lillian Cavett Elementary), David Tineo, 1994
El Pueblo Neighborhood Center East Wall Mural, likely David Tineo and Danny Garza, ca 1980s.
Lillian Cavett Student Mural Project (Lillian Cavett Elementary), David Tineo, 1994
Viva la Vida, Watermelons, Frida Kahlo, 1954







Roots 2023, archival inkjet print, 13” X 19.5”, from the Viva El Pueblo Project


“Beyond that is a sense of place, I think that’s been the most important thing for me, politically, that you have some roots somewhere, that your feet are settled somewhere.” 

- Congressman Raúl Grijalva 
“Our community, in this area, is growing, which is wonderful, and so we need more community resources.” 


- Anna Sanchez


Harvest, Agave Field with Farmer, David Tineo, 2005
Goddess of Agave (Benjamin Plumbing Supply), Rock “Cyfi” Martinez, 2017
Linda Avenue Community Mural, David Tineo, 2006



The Spirit of El Pueblo 2023, archival inkjet print, 13” X 19.5”, from the Viva El Pueblo Project


“You know even the activism on the TCE, it was angry, and it was painful, but people you know, went to El Pueblo, went to the meetings, yelled and cried and screamed, and they said we’re not going to put up with this, and they were able to do things. So culturally, whether it was politics, education, art, El Pueblo was able to not only survive, but thrive and provide an environment where people could go and feel at home.” 

-Raúl E. Aguirre
“So I’m a nurse, and my first work here in this neighborhood was in the 90s. We had our little pocito clinic there, right, because we had the funds to take care of the neighborhoods who had been exposed to TCE, as she mentioned, the water contamination from Hughes Aircraft, also known as Raytheon here in our community. And today from El Rio Health we still administer those funds to provide care for all the neighborhood members who had been exposed to that hazardous environmental condition all those years ago. Many of them have cancer, we pay for all their health care through that fund of money. So really a site for activism here about, this is not okay, for any of us to have that.”

- Nancy Johnson




Ochoa School Mural Project (Ochoa Elementary), David Tineo, 1997

Untitled (Amphi Middle School), likely David Tineo, 1993
Nuestra Gente (Manzo Elementary), David Tineo
Para Los Niños (Davis Bilingual) , David Tineo, 1984





The Heart of the Neighborhood2023, archival inkjet print, 12” X 12”, from the Viva El Pueblo Project

“If anybody wanted to know what El Pueblo was, I said it was a hub, I said it was another artery to the Southside, it is, and it’s also a beating heart of activism, by nature of the things that were happening there.”
-Raúl E. Aguirre
“So firstly, I want to see this place become the phoenix of the southside, I want it to come back from ashes, and with all of us here, and all of you all here, take an interest.” 

-Richard Barker


El Rio Neighborhood Center Mural, David Tineo, 1974 (Restored in 2019)
El Pueblo Neighborhood Center East Wall Mural, likely David Tineo and Danny Garza, ca 1980s






Mixed 2023, archival inkjet print, 12” X 12”, from the Viva El Pueblo Project


“Yeah, like I said, we learned as we were doing. One of the issues about diversity that’s really important, is it's a two way street. And so, as we wanted people to appreciate the value and what the community that I’m from brings to the whole, we also wanted our community to experience other parts of our diversity, i.e. it started with arts and culture, but it extended to international folks that came to visit, it extended to discussions on immigration, it extended to having other parts of the Pima County, Tucson community also part of the discussion that would come there. I think that interaction was very, very healthy. And one of the things we didn’t want the center to be was to be isolated, and to be so internalized that it didn’t open itself up and honestly, arts, culture, and political discourse became the way we opened up the door to bring other people in and allow the people that this center served to learn and experience something and interact with people. The indigenous community, the O'odham, all became part of this mix, and we kept it mixed on purpose. We didn’t want to silo it, the center was the center, so once you came into the center that was the silo. If you brought your own silo from outside, you had to give it up coming in, because it always got all mixed up.” 
-Congressman Raúl Grijalva

Para Los Niños (Davis Bilingual) , David Tineo, 1984

Lovers in the Prelude of a Hummingbird, David Tineo, 2006
Oro, David Tineo








We are Here2023, archival inkjet print, 12” X 12”, from the Viva El Pueblo Project

“You know, we are not a transient neighborhood. We are here. I’ve been here since, you know, the beginning of time–my time–and my mom is like 97 and so–she will be 97 in May–but we are here. I mean we’re in the same house, she’s in the same house since ‘52, I’ve been in the same house since ‘73. I’m not moving, and this is our community, and we are family, we are all connected. We grew up together, we are just, we’re here.” 

- Becki Quintero




Untitled (Amphi Middle School), likely David Tineo, 1993
Compass to the Southwest (University of Arizona Press), David Tineo, 1989