New mural honors Chicago’s intergenerational Mexican heritage with butterfly symbolism

Monarchs are the only butterfly species to make a two-way migration — back and forth from Mexico to as far north as Canada. Chicago muralist Robert Valadez, a third-generation Mexican American who paints monarch butterflies, said that unlike many people in Latin America who try to come to the United States, monarchs can cross the border freely.

Large bronze and yellow butterflies dot the top of his latest mural, “México del Norte,” in the Colores Mexicanos store at 605 N. Michigan Ave. Valadez is a Chicago-born artist who has painted murals across the city for over 40 years.

The mural, whose title translates to “The Mexico of the North,” was celebrated at an opening event at the store Friday. It is the centerpiece of the downtown store, which sells artisan Mexican goods. But it tells a larger story about generations of Mexican Americans who call Chicago home and the need for the city to pay homage to that heritage, Valadez said.

The mural takes up the entire wall to the right upon entering Colores. It’s a hodgepodge of symbols, combining a depiction of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Louis Sullivan buildings, Aztec tile patterns and stylized torch-like flowers based on Mexican bordado, or embroidery. The images pop out of a bright red background, with purple cross hatching in the shadows at the bottom.

“It’s a little bit tacky,” Valadez said. “There’s a place for that.”

Colores Mexicanos is run by sisters Leticia and Erika Espinosa, who immigrated to Chicago over a decade ago, and Gabriel Neely-Streit, who worked for years in Mexico. Neely-Streit met Leticia while she was working for Hoy, the Chicago Tribune’s former Spanish newspaper. They started the store to bring centuries-old traditions to the Magnificent Mile for downtown crowds to admire.

“We feel that everyone can learn something more about Mexico and its culture by coming here. It’s a country that has over 60 native languages, over 300 dialects,” Neely-Streit said.

Erika Espinosa used to sell goods from Mexico on a plastic table outside of stores and in parks around Chicago. Her table was different from others because her products were high-quality and authentic, her sister Leticia said. With the help of COVID-19 relief funds from the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection and the Magnificent Mile Association, the Espinosa sisters and Neely-Streit opened their store on Black Friday in 2021.

They partner directly with dozens of families across 13 states of Mexico and Guatemala, Colombia and Peru to sell embroidered ponchos, hot chocolate, clay mugs, weavings, beadwork and more. They spend most of their time on WhatsApp, they said, reaching out to vendors. They also highlight local Latino artists, such as Valadez.

[ How the 1st Mexican cultural store in the Magnificent Mile highlights the economic power of immigrant community during mayoral trip to Mexico City ]

Valadez started painting murals as a student at Pilsen’s Benito Juarez Community Academy in 1979. He said the school commissioned two artists from outside the city to paint a wall in the gym, and the 16-year-old was fascinated by their artistic process. He’d never seen anything like it.

“I just started hanging out a lot and they noticed I wouldn’t leave, so they let me paint,” he said.

For Valadez, art is collaborative and organic. It should be taken seriously, but not too seriously. As a youth organizer at what was then known as the Casa Aztlan center in Pilsen, Valadez engaged the kids he worked with on mural projects. He brought in several other artists — Bill Campillon, John Vergara, Deyni Venta, Mateo Galvez — to help with “México de Norte.”

He said he gets his projects mostly by word-of-mouth and they range from church restorations to subcontracts with Italian companies.

One of his favorite projects is a mural in Sterling, Illinois, called “Silver City.” Set in the early part of the 20th century, it depicts silver boxcars in a field that Mexican Americans lived in because local city leaders didn’t want them living in town. The Mexican Americans had spray painted the cars silver to reflect the sunlight.

Now, Valadez said, Mexican communities are living in the center of Chicago, and painting with vibrant colors.

“They gave us a little spot,” he said of the city and Colores Mexicano’s location. “We’ve arrived. We’re downtown.”

People of Hispanic or Latino descent make up 28.7% of the population in Chicago, according to most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

René Flores, sociology professor at the University of Chicago, said this population is diverse. The majority is from Mexico, but also from countries across Latin America. He said Chicago’s strong tradition of Latino art and murals isn’t reflected in its cultural institutions.

“Chicago itself prides itself in being an inclusive city and ethnic tapestry, but how do you reconcile that with this profound underrepresentation of Latino culture — the fact that the histories, that the traditions of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, are typically not included in our city institutions?” Flores said.

“We’re such an important part of the population here,” Leticia Espinosa said in Spanish. “And there really isn’t much representation in downtown Chicago. There are a few restaurants, but that’s it.”

In the right corner of the mural is Millennium Park’s beloved Bean, but instead of its normal shiny exterior, it’s painted brown.

“It’s a pinto bean,” Valadez said. “It’s a Mexican peanut. ‘El frijol’ is a Mexican bean.”

The mural’s mishmash of modern and traditional art forms speaks to intergenerational communities of migrants in Chicago, Leticia Espinosa said. It depicts the heart and the depth of Mexican culture, she said, but honors the way Chicago has become a place of work, study and play for so many migrant families.

Belen Martinez, who works at Colores Mexicanos, is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, but came to Chicago 23 years ago. She feels a lot of pride working downtown at one of the only stores that sells such products from Mexico, she said in Spanish.

“Oaxaca has a variety of culture, places. The food is different. The traditions are varied,” she said. “The store represents that. It’s a little piece of Mexico.”

Martinez said she loves the symbol of the monarch butterfly on the mural. She loves the fact that as the butterfly migrates, it always returns to the place it breeds. It’s incredible, she said.

Martinez wishes she, too, had the ability to return home. She hasn’t seen her family in Mexico since she moved here. She said she misses the food the most, especially mole. She had three children in Chicago.

“I really hope we can someday return to visit,” she said.

nsalzman@chicagotribune.com