Digital Ofrenda at the Molina Family Latino Gallery
Between Oct. 29 and Nov. 2, the National Museum of the American Latino will feature a digital ofrenda at its Molina Family Latino Gallery in the National Museum of American History. The ofrenda will feature photos, music, and videos of commemorative murals and memorials on the gallery’s multimedia digital wall.
Through the digital ofrenda, we will honor and celebrate the lives lost tragically in the Texas municipalities of Uvalde, San Antonio and El Paso. The lives being memorialized include the 21 shooting victims killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas; the 53 immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala who died in the back of a semi-truck due to heat exhaustion in San Antonio; and the 23 people fatally shot at a Walmart in El Paso.
Join us in remembering these lives lost.
Healing Uvalde Murals
The Healing Uvalde Mural Project organized by Abel Ortiz, Monica Maldonado, and George Meza brought 21 artists to Uvalde, Texas, to complete portrait murals of the victims who died. You can learn about each mural by visiting our virtual gallery.
The San Antonio Immigrant Memorial
After 67 people, 53 of whom died, were found in a semi-truck on Quintana Road in San Antonio, a memorial was created honoring their lives. The memorial includes a mural painted by Roberto Marquez and 53 crosses, one for each victim.
El Paso Walmart Massacre
On August 3, 2019, a white gunman killed 23 people when he opened fire in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. According to police, the shooter claimed he was targeting Mexicans. Albert “Tino” Ortega, from El Paso has begun a mural project, to create twenty three murals one in honor of each victim. Ortega says “I didn’t just want to focus on the negativity, I wanted to focus on the positivity as well. There are bad things that happen but there are also good things that happen as well. And in the wake of the shooting, we saw the community come together, as we have never seen before. And I just wanted to make sure that these individuals were memorialized in some kind of way that was fitting, that brings the community together at the same time.”
Resilience and Remembrance at El Paso, Texas
In the digital ofrenda you can hear the voice of Josué Rodriguez singing a corrido. In the video below, Josué Rodriguez, a singer-songwriter from El Paso, explains the significance of corridos (narrative ballads) and performs the corrido he wrote to honor the victims of the 2019 El Paso massacre.