Weaving Cultures

One of two complimentary works painted along this stretch of railroad embankment, Weaving Cultures purposefully echoes Aurelio Diaz’s Galería del Barrio mural across the viaduct. The work is a collaboration of artists Sam Kirk and Sandra Antongiorgi, the former who also worked to restore Diaz’s 1976 mural. Stylistically, Weaving Cultures combines Kirk’s swirling shapes and vibrant colors with Antongiorgi’s photorealistic faces, creating an intimate dreamlike portrait of five female figures historically underrepresented in public artwork. It includes an elderly Afro Latina, a transgender Latina woman, an Indigenous woman, a Muslim woman in hijab and Janice Bond, a prominent figure in the Chicago arts and culture community who is also the only real-life figure depicted here.