Go for the beauty. Get politics, too.

The lounging lizards and playful tortoise are three images everyone familiar with Joe Pagac‘s murals around town know. On this mural on the Himmel Park Pool building, he has added two whimsical fur babies playing with a toy train. On the two right side panels, below, you can see a train and a red bird.

The creatures are all very charming and suitable for the site. And the mural is not only on the pool building wall but it’s next to a children’s play structure that I would have given a dozen bologna sandwiches for when I was a little girl. I was a real tom-boy as a child — loved to climb on things, hang upside down by my heels, make the swing go really high, then jump out of it and a couple of other things that were unwise, including jumping from a hay loft in a barn into a pile of hay. Survived it all. Anyway…this play structure is amazing at least for younger children.

Now comes the politics

Actually, it is not about politics. but social justice. On the far left side of the mural there is graffiti. I wonder if anyone will remove this demand to return land to indigenous people. Probably not for a while at least.

One of the things I admire about Arizona and Tucson, in particular, is the acknowledgement of the history of the people who have lived and continue to live on this land. There is the formal statement read by the City Council at their meetings. There are other murals around Tucson recognizing the tribes who were here generation after generation for centuries. I was raised in a world that looked down on indigenous people, especially men from the Spokane tribe. Then, along came Sherman Alexie and his brilliant books which changed a lot of people’s minds. Oh, if you go to his website, you can read about the greatest KISS tribute band on the Spokane Reservation!

One more thing on the topic of beauty. While Pagac has made a name for himself with specific stylized images, I was surprised to see his name as the artist on the wall at Corbett’s restaurant and pickleball facility. The art style is dramatically different. And I was sorry to see that some rotten person had vandalized the sculpture he created for the Loop biking trail. It has been removed for repairs, but it’s uncertain when or where the sculpture will be displayed again in public. RESPECT THE ART, folks!