In spring 2022, the principal of Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood approached Chicano artist Omar G. Ramírez to create a mural on campus. Ramírez knew this was the chance he was waiting for and responded with an ambitious, multidisciplinary art project meant to get young people to think critically about their food. Having grown up on Los Angeles’ Eastside, the artist had witnessed the impact of processed food on community health: Among low income California Latinos, those who are food insecure are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared to those able to afford healthier food. This has been called food apartheid.
“I had a student who didn’t know tortillas were made from corn,” said Ramírez, a master artist who works for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
