Division Street Sidewalk Murals

Through the city of Chicago’s Al Fresco Initiative, a program aimed at creating “active community spaces” anchored by outdoor dining structures, artists are painting 10 sidewalk murals on Paseo Boricua between California and Western avenues. Most are found at the intersections of Washtenaw, Rockwell and Campbell. The murals are important, timely expressions of Puerto Rican culture and identity at a time when the community in Humboldt Park is facing rapid gentrification and displacement. They depict everything from hibiscus, Puerto Rico’s state flower, to the Puerto Rican LGBTQ experience and are expected to remain in place for a few years. The Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) and community members are steering the project, with local Puerto Rican artist Cristian Roldán taking on four of the murals with assistants. The remainder are being painted by other local artists, including Rebel Betty whose flashy pink mural with leaf prints enlivens the corner near Mercado Del Pueblo, and Raul Ortiz Bonilla who painted the hibiscus mural near Rockwell, each flower with 78 leaves representing the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico. This collective, celebratory reimagining of public space is part of broader plans to reinvigorate Division Street and its Puerto Rican businesses, which have suffered pandemic-related setbacks. But by no means are the Paseo's murals confined to the sidewalks. Cast your eyes upward for a sampling of other skillful works along fences and building walls.