Johanna Poethig returns to LA to digitally restore her iconic mural

Through SPARC’s CityWide Mural Program, preservation of “Calle de la Eternidad” originally painted in 1992 as part of SPARC’s Neighborhood Pride Mural Program, is now going through a digital restoration in our UCLA@SPARC Digital/Mural Lab. Since the original facade of the building was demolished, so was the mural. SPARC’s intent is to bring this iconic mural back to its home on Broadway Blvd.

“SPARC’s dedication to the mural movement, innovative approach to preserving this mural and all the parties involved in this effort, are a testament to the importance of monumental murals as landmarks in our cities. I want to express my gratitude to everyone who is working to save this mural.”  – Johanna Poethig, original artist.

History:

Calle de la Eternidad was the former name of Broadway Blvd., where the mural was located. Poethig emphasizes the nature of time and of space. Using images familiar with the Latino community who live and work in the area, the words of Octavio Paz around the Aztec calendar express the feelings of dislocation and adaptation. Resembling the city’s high-rise buildings are two enormous golden arms reaching up to the sky in a gesture of great plea, accompanied by two seated pre-Columbian figures. Poethig’s imagery and the poem offer a reality where place becomes changeable and time is frozen, to the viewers along the street engaged in the everyday struggles of life in Downtown Los Angeles suggesting the reality of being at home in Los Angeles with feelings of living in exile.