Artist to repaint Fresno mural honoring violence victims. Here’s where it’ll be located
This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative — a bilingual, community journalism project funded by the Central Valley Community Foundation and with technology and training support from Microsoft Corp. The collaboration includes The Fresno Bee, Valley Public Radio, Vida en el Valle, Radio Bilingüe and the Institute for Media & Public Trust at Fresno State.
Logan Morales had his whole life ahead of him. The 20-year-old from northwest Fresno had finished his first year at community college and had plans to enroll in the military. But he was gunned down in his car on a cold December night in 2020, just days after celebrating Christmas with his family.
Nearly a year later, Morales’ death is still under investigation. But until recently, his memory had lived on through a downtown Fresno mural that featured Morales and 12 other community members lost to violence. The mural on the side of pharmacy Casa Camacho was painted over last week and the artist, Omar “Super” Huerta, said he had no advance notice.
It’s still not clear why the mural, originally located at 436 N. Blackstone Ave., was removed. The owner of the building has not responded to requests for comment.
A week after the mural disappeared, Huerta has secured two new locations for the “The Hall of Angels.” The new mural, which will feature the portraits of 16 Black and brown residents who were killed, will span the sides of two different auto shops at 4595 E. Shields Ave. and at 1354 N. First St. It will both honor victims and serve as a community gathering place for bereaved families.
“This is great news to hear that someone donated a wall for our angel,” Morales’ mother, Ana Ramos de Chavez, told The Bee in a Nov. 18 interview. “We are very happy to be able to see his portrait again. All our family and his friends are very happy about the news.”
Huerta will begin painting as soon as he gathers enough donations through GoFundMe to accrue paint supplies. He will paint between three to four faces a night or every other night to speed up its completion, he said.
“Everything is moving pretty fast,” he said. “I gotta make these families happy again. Art still represents the community, art is still a voice, art still becomes a monument or a landmark and a place to visit. Art is community — that’s why it has so much power.”
And this time, he said he is drafting written agreements with the building owners — something he didn’t have for his previous mural.
Henry Villalobos is a manager at Fat Boy Tire Shop, one of the auto shops that will feature part of the new mural. He said the shop reached out to Huerta to offer up one of the building’s walls. It was a small way they could give back to a community that has been disproportionately plagued by violence, he said.
He hopes the new mural will be a reminder to community members that they’re supported through difficult times.
“We want to help stop the violence in Fresno and we feel that this is a good way to show people that we do have a good heart,” he said. “This is our way to give our condolences to those families and just to show them that we may not know them, but we’ve all been in situations where we’ve lost a loved one.”
Ashley Flores’ fiance Kenneth Loftis, 40, was also featured on Huerta’s original mural.
Known as Marv by loved ones, he was shot and killed at a house party located on the 2500 block of South Rose Avenue in June. The news of his death shocked his family. They are still pleading for answers.
“It was the worst day of my life,” Flores said. “Our son was only six months old when it happened.”
Flores remembers visiting the mural. She said she and her son would always go by and “just sit in my car looking at his portrait, remembering all of our beautiful memories.” She was devastated when she heard the news that it was painted over, but has since felt reassured that she’ll be able to see his portrait again.
She said art can have a healing effect on a grieving community.
“When it was painted over it broke my heart,” she added. “When I heard Omar was going to redo it, I had tears of joy because that mural was so, so precious to us. We’re very happy. The mural meant the world to us.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.