Stopped by at the tail-end of "The History of Transportation" mural unveiling in Inglewood today. A local charro dance troupe was performing, but it appeared most people had already left. Not much media; the glare on the Southside this weekend is centered on the bad news out of King medical center.
Anyway, interesting things happen when you bring a pair of fresh eyes to a piece of art. A friend today commented, after taking in Lundeberg's 240-foot long petrachrome work depicting the transportation history of the Centinela Valley: "Where are all the Africans?" Most of the people who inhabit the mural's scenes after the panels that represent the pre-Colonial era and the Mission period seem to be even-toned Anglos. No black people, and no Chinese or Japanese. Then we read the draft information panels written by art historian Michael Several, whom I interviewed while researching my piece this week. No. 5 says:
Reflective of the period, many ethnic populations are under-represented in their contributions made to the area and to the transportation growth within the state of California.
Nonetheless, the people who were there today seemed pleased with the mural's prominent new home near City Hall and Inglewood High School. As we took off, a local publicist nodded approvingly and said: "Our mural."
* The L.A. Times did its mural preview in Saturday's paper.