Somos Pilsen

At 4,000 square feet, Somos Pilsen is possibly the largest mural along 18th Street. It appears on the west-facing wall of Carnitas Don Pedro, a taqueria founded by Pedro Duarte—depicted here in an apron and red t-shirt. An immigrant from the Mexican State of Michoacan, Duarte came to Chicago and began serving fried pork tacos from a street cart before opening his restaurant in 1981. Duarte’s wife and children continue to run the legacy operation after Pedro’s passing in 2017, serving up mouth-watering carnitas and chicharron by the pound with all the fixings to feed a large family. Completed in early 2021 by artists Pablo Serrano and Mateo Zapata, the mural assembles a panorama of real people from the Pilsen community. Alongside members of the Duarte clan, we see workers, educators, students, musicians and activists portrayed here in a mix of candid and posed portraits. Their photorealistic faces are combined with symbolic elements including a rising phoenix, a serpent with a border fence hidden in its scales and a group of multiracial children manipulating a toy set of Chicago’s skyscrapers.