Dragonfly Community Arts was honored to fund a mural at the 2022 San Mateo County Fair to commemorate the contributions of Filipino farmworkers.
Muralist Carlos “Kookie” Gonzalez designed and conceptualized the mural, which pays tribute to Larry Itliong and the Filipino Farmworkers who joined Cesar Chavez and the Delano Grape Boycott in 1965 to form the United Farmworkers Union (UFW).
The eight-foot by 20-foot mural depicts a portrait of Itliong at the center of the panel with farmworkers working the fields in the background and striking farmworkers in the foreground. To the right of Itliong are labor leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.
Gonzalez sketched the mural on the panel prior to the county fair. From June 4-12, 2022, Gonzalez invited fairgoers to pitch in and help paint the mural. Over the course of the fair, numerous children and adults donned a painter’s apron and put their brushstrokes to the mural. For many of the young volunteers it was their first time picking up a paintbrush or working on a piece of art of this scale.
The end product is an inspiring tribute to Bay Area farmworkers and a one-of-a-kind art piece truly created by the San Mateo County community. The finished mural is now housed at the Art Zone Gallery located at the Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno. The mural will be available for display at public and civic events by request.
