Artis Talk-Leo Tanguma | Motivational Speaker and Chicano Muralist

Leo Tanguma, the son of migrant farmworkers, grew up in Beeville, Texas. In his early childhood, he made sketches of his parents while they worked in the cotton fields. Leo majored in art at Texas Southern University, where he studied under Dr. John Biggers, Chairman of the Art Department and nationally recognized as one of the foremost muralists. In 1972, Leo Tanguma met Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, who encouraged him to depict social unrest and inequality in the United States. These experiences and Mr. Tanguma's participation in the Chicano Movement have inspired him to paint murals for over forty years. He has also conceptualized the free-standing sculptural mural, a dynamic idea to make the transportation and exhibition of murals more adaptable to different spaces. His mural-making process is collaborative and seeks to represent the struggle for human liberation and the dehumanizing conditions oppressed people strive to overcome in communities across the Southwest.

Host or Publisher César Chávez Cultural Center