This is an ongoing project that got it’s jump off for the SOMOS ABQ event. We really liked the direction of this project and have made it ongoing. It also works well within the COVID reality that we all have to navigate. We work with apprentices and high school students from one of our community partners (La Academia De Esperanza Charter High School) to create sunflower murals. They range from singular painted, tile & paint, tile, to a large scale group of sunflowers across Burque. For now we are focusing on the South Valley region, but hope to let it spread across our city and eventually New Mexico.

We see the sunflower as a prominent and symbolic flower in our state. For us, sunflowers show us there is beauty and strength that can come from the grittiness of life. Sunflowers also have the ability to suck toxins from the soil, to allow it to thrive. It is a way to bring strength, color, beauty and resilience to our neighborhoods with our own hands