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Riverside-based artist Denise Silva. | Photo courtesy of the city of Riverside
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A local artist’s “Grandmothers” murals are currently featured at Riverside libraries, the city announced Monday.
The series of murals was created by Riverside-based artist Denise Silva, who said her works represent the indigenous peoples of the area: Tongva, people of the Earth; Luiseño, people of the West; Cahuilla, people of the desert; and Serrano, people of the pines.
The murals are “totems — spiritual guardians — for those who respect the divine feminine and ultimately, Mother Earth, who is our oldest ancestor,” Silva said in a statement.
The largest grandmother mural is a 40-foot piece on the west-facing wall of the Main Library, located at 3900 Mission Inn Ave. in downtown Riverside. Artists Amparo Chi, Jeshua V and Solomon Cortes assisted Silva, who became a grandmother herself in 2020.
Four smaller grandmother murals were printed on metal and are on display at the Arlanza, La Sierra, Orange Terrace and Casa Blanca branch libraries. Silva said the murals’ pigmentation represents “our collective skin color as well as our Inland Empire landscape.”
“The Arts & Cultural Affairs Division’s mission is inclusion through dynamic and diverse arts, culture and entertainment,” Margie Haupt, Riverside arts and cultural affairs manager, said in a statement. “We enrich, elevate and motivate our community and its visitors, so we and the Library Department were happy to support this mural.”
Silva was born in East Los Angeles and raised in Riverside. She studied design and illustration at California State University, Los Angeles, and works from her home studio in Riverside.
“The grandmothers will serve as a reminder for all to see whose land they are standing on, to step with mindfulness, to step with care,” Silva said. “Standing under each grandmother, pause to take a breath, give thanks and reset your nervous system. As you look up at them, you will feel their protection, their fierce and tender love.”
Silva’s work is available for viewing at www.pearmama.com and on Instagram @pearmama.
