Relatos de lucha, esperanza y refugio

A 12-year-old Honduran girl has to leave her home and family to escape death threats from Mara Salvatrucha gang members. Her journey to Mexico is a journey plagued by aggression. Her story is the inspiration behind the concept of this mural, which seeks to bring people closer to the reality of refugees and provide a message of hope. In the mural, a girl flies on the wings of a scarlet macaw -a bird endemic to Honduras- with her home and family in tow. There are tree branches in her arms and on her back, reminding us that she had to uproot her roots and take with her the essence of the place she left behind in search of a life with better possibilities. The sun refers to an idea of a future, albeit uncertain, but hopeful. Other endemic birds from Central and South American countries are present, on them symbolically travel those in search of refuge. People from Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Venezuela and Colombia participated in the project. Each element of the mural is the result of the dialogue that sprung in workshops organized in shelters, where testimonies of migration and the challenges faced upon arriving in Mexico were shared. Artists Eva Bracamontes comments: "The murals alone don't fight discrimination, racism, poverty or injustice, but they do give us the possibility of sowing a seed of hope, and if you can sow hope, then you are helping to heal something. Interestingly, the name of the street is called 'Hope' and that is what this and all the murals promote: hope, protection, hope for a better life away from violence, poverty and discrimination. It is, as a phrase on the mural itself says, 'happiness without borders, no matter where you come from’.”