Westwood artist Santiago Jaramillo connects community and heritage
Recently, Jaramillo has returned to the streets of Westwood; but this time, his intentions are vastly different. His most recent project was designing and constructing Plaza Mexica, a local gathering space owned and operated by Re:vision, a local non-profit food cooperative.
Re:Vision works to bring fresh food into the food desert that is Westwood via a locally supplied grocery store and a backyard garden program that, collectively, makes the neighborhood home to the second largest urban garden in America. Their goal, similar to Jaramillo’s and that of D3 Arts, is to empower the community by encouraging economic and personal autonomy.
Jaramillo began working with Re:vision a few years after their opening. Since his first conversation with Re:vision founder Eric Kornacki, Jaramillo has created over four full wall murals for Re:vision.
The Plaza Mexica is a brightly painted amphitheater with yellow and red Aztec figures adorned with multicolored headdresses dancing across the walls. The paintings are largely inspired by Jaramillo’s heritage and are often brightly colored contemplations on origin, the environment, and ancestry.