“Grieving Sun Mural” memorials with cityLAB activist-in-residence Marlené Nancy Lopez
A preview of a new public art project that will eventually reside in MacArthur Park. Campus community and public invited to a series of memorial moments.
Thursday May 18
FREE
Join the UCLA campus community for a preview of the “Grieving Sun Mural” interactive public-art project, from Marlené Nancy Lopez, the inaugural activist-in-residence for UCLA’s CityLAB. Born and raised in LA’s MacArthur Park, Lopez has devoted years of service as a community organizer in the neighborhood and as a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Lopez is one of four current activists-in residence at UCLA. This preview installation on campus offers a community-engagement opportunity before the project relocates in August 2023 to MacArthur Park.
This is a work the artist has been imagining since she was 14 and her father died. Lopez hopes people feel inspired to activate the mural with personal notes, photos, or other gestures of commemoration–any items that allow viewers to reconnect with lost ancestors, friends, or memories. Community-engagement calls to action are peppered throughout the show, and picture frames, candles, and other curios will be on hand at the activation events so visitors can frame and leave a remembrance, add an illuminated candle to the ceremony, or simply reflect.
12:00 p.m.—Memorial to victims of recent tragedies in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay
5:30 p.m. —Memorial to deceased cyclists.
(A memorial for “We the Unhoused” is to-be-scheduled on Thursday)
