La Memoria de la Tierra: UCLA

Judith F. Baca
La Memoria de la Tierra: UCLA, 2022
10′ x 80′ (triptych)
Digital reproduction on glass panels

Located on the north side of Ackerman Union, the mural is made up of three 26-foot-long glass panels. The left panel portrays Westwood, long before UCLA, with a shimmering light-blue outline of Royce Hall where it sits today.

This mural is a piece of land in memory, including Westwoods original people and the land rivers original state. The story of Westwood flows over the three, 26-foot long panels; starting off is a tribute to the land, detailing where the Los Angeles River had once flowed and where the Gabrielino/Tongva tribes and native flora and fauna thrived.

In the second segment, homage is paid to many men and women who have impacted UCLA and its Bruin community. The middle panel is built around a trinity of women who opposed the colonial rule by Spanish missionaries in California in the late 1700s; Angela Davis, civil rights activist and former UCLA faculty member, who was fired by the University of California Board of Regents for her association with communism; and Dolores Huerta, iconic labor leader who worked with Cesar Chavez on behalf of farmworkers.

The future of the campus is on the right, with rhizomes (long, narrow channel-like roots) filled with the faces if other significant people, many of them faculty, who are doing the work to bring UCLA into the future and ensuring that UCLA remains in harmony with the land. The third panel was designed “to tale the knowledge hat comes from the university and [spread] it widely.”

Videos

Installation Timelapse

List of all Figures and Events Depicted:

  • Toypurina
  • Angela Davis
  • Dolores Huerta
  • D’Lo
  • Sefa Aina
  • Paul Apodaca
  • Arthur Ashe
  • Judith F. Baca
  • Desirae Barragan
  • Rosina M. Becerra
  • Julia Bogany
  • Tom Bradley
  • Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter
  • Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver
  • Patrisse Cullors
  • Grace Montañez Davis
  • Ann Meyers Drysdale
  • Maria Elena Durazo
  • Leo Estrada
  • Tam Tran and Cinthya Felix
  • Daniel M.T. Fessler
  • Anna Fisher
  • Andrea Ghez
  • Carole E. Goldberg
  • Dellara Gorjian
  • Deb Haaland 
  • Ralph Bunche And Ruth Harris
  • David Hayes-Bautista
  • Kelly Lytle Hernández
  • Juan Felipe Herrera
  • Dennis Hong
  • Darnell Hunt
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
  • CK Yang and Rafer Johnson
  • Richard B. Kaner
  • Jackie Joyner Kersee
  • Suk-Young Kim
  • Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Barbara Kruger
  • Sheila Kuehl
  • Dr. Hillel Laks
  • Yasmeen Lari
  • James Lawson
  • John Lewis
  • Dr. Linda Liau
  • Mildred Mathias
  • Sylvia Mendez
  • Laura Miranda
  • Judy Mitoma
  • Royal Morales
  • Hiroshi Motomura
  • Rosalio Muñoz
  • Don Nakanishi
  • Dr. Elizabeth Neufeld
  • Kiyoshi Patrick Okura
  • Lauren Pilon
  • Juan Gomez Quinones
  • Beverly Robinson
  • Jackie and Malie Robinson
  • Ananya Roy
  • Ernie Salas
  • Gaurav Sant
  • Helen and Robert Singleton
  • Rae Lee Siporin
  • Wadada Leo-Smith
  • George Takei
  • Terence Tao
  • Jewel Thais-Williams
  • Lula Washington
  • Kent Wong
  • John Wooden
  • Mia Yamamoto
  • Hitoshi “Moe” Yonemura
  • AFSCME Protests – 2018
  • Asian American Student Rally – 2014
  • Black Lives Matter Student Protests – 2020
  • Campus Protests of Vietnam War – 1976
  • Dreamers and DACA Protests – 2014
  • LGBTQ Leaders, Rights and Community on Campus
  • Students Protest Race and Admissions Research – 2012
  • UCLA Hunger Strikes – 1993
  • Wartime Edict Bans Japanese American Students – 1942

Directions

“La Memoria de La Tierra: UCLA” is located at the Wescom Student Terrace at the of UCLA Ackerman Union – 308 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024