Cintéotl: the Mural of Cultural Pride at El Meson Taqueria
The mural Cintéotl, by Josue Aldana and Jose Manuel Medina, located at the back patio of El Meson restaurant on Cermak Rd on January 30th, 2023. Photo by Chelsea Zhao.
By Chelsea Zhao
Upon entering El Meson Taqueria, florid photos of burritos and quesabirrias lined the counter. A waitress carried plates of steaming food and baskets of crispy tortilla chips as eaters chatted breezily in Spanish. Even in the early afternoon, the restaurant was filled to half capacity.
The pride of El Meson is at the back of the patio – a colorful and breathtaking stretch of mural illuminating against the snow with its crimson roses, blooming calla lilies, fluttering monarch butterflies and aztec statues emerging from clouds of greenery.
The mural has panels of multiple cultural icons of precolonial and after-colonial times such as the earth goddess and the Virgen de Guadalupe (Chelsea Zhao).
Carlos Velazquez, owner of El Meson, initially wanted a mural that represented their cultural origin — Morelos for him and Michoacán for his wife Angelica Garfias.
“I really hope they see the culture more than anything,” Velazquez said in an interview in Spanish. “And that they see where we come from. Because they never know where we came from and where we are going.”
Josue Aldana, also known as Mr. Pintamuro, is a self-taught muralist based in Little Village. He transformed the back of the restaurant to a vibrant backdrop of cultural pride.
The mural, titled Cintéotl, is named after the purépecha deity of corn. The art encompasses multiple icons of cultural identity including the earth goddess and the Virgen de Guadalupe.
Aldana’s father is a good friend of Velazquez, and the restaurant owners knew Aldana since he was a little boy. Aldana worked on the mural with Jose Manuel Medina (Wave) starting in September of last year. He used a combination of aerosol, acrylic and latex paint. However, due to budget issues, he had to halt the work periodically and accommodate the best he could.
The owners of El Meson were pleased with the final work upon the mural’s completion in November 2021.
“I think it is a very nice work,” Garfias said. “It's very nice for people to come and see our culture, where we come from, and our roots.”
To collect inspiration for the mural, Aldana first reached out to the Little Village Local on Facebook, and through their input, visualized the idea of indigeneity.
“It was very arduous, but the community has come out,” Aldana said. “There was always this raw sense of beautifying the space even though it's a private space.”
“I think it definitely represents our culture a lot. It does a good job of explaining what we’ve been through, what we've gone through, what our beliefs are and what we all think about,” Lizbeth Sanchez, god-daughter of Garfias, said.
Aldana completed the mural during the COVID pandemic, coinciding with the outside dining policies. According to Sanchez, when indoor dining returned, many diners ate outside next to the mural.
“They see that artwork, they see something revealing,” Aldana said. “And it's [also] for the new generation with new minds pushing around this place differently: it allows a lot of that heavy sense of pride.”
“I just took a personal initiative to depict my culture” Aldana said. “I would like to have a broader investigation of collective identity and what does that look like within the next five years.”
Instilling his craft of painting murals and his recollection of local artwork in Veracruz, Mexico, Aldana set out to redefine public art as a representation of the community.
Chelsea Zhao is a graduate journalism student at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and is a Berwyn resident. You can read more of Chelsea's work on her site here.
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