By Richard Chang – VoiceOfOC.org – Photo: Richard Chang.
Photo: A view of Sergio O’Cadiz’s “Library Mural” from the center of Cypress College’s campus.
Back in July, a Santa Ana, California, mural by Mexican American artist Sergio O’Cadiz — created in 1994 with help from local youths and community members — was whitewashed, presumably by the property owner. While Orange County did lose a significant piece of its cultural and artistic history, there was a silver lining to the tragedy. The covering up of O’Cadiz’s Raitt Street mural has renewed interest in the artist. Ever since, the controversial creation (1974-76) and destruction of his massive, 625-foot-long Colonia Juarez mural in Fountain Valley in 2001, O’Cadiz was not the same.
