On Saturday, February 21, 2026, Judith F. Baca and SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center) will be celebrated at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery. The exhibition is titled Judith F. Baca Great Wall Of Los Angeles: The 1970’S – A Decade Of Defiance And Dreams. The show will feature the latest complete segment in the expansion of The Great Wall of Los Angeles mural, fifty years after its initial production.
The Great Wall of Los Angeles
The 1970s signaled a decisive era of resistance, reckoning, and reinvention in the United States. This section of The Great Wall of Los Angeles channels the energy of its defining movements. It opens with the 1969 Native American occupation of Alcatraz, where activists reclaimed land and identity. That action, in turn, reignited Indigenous organizing across the country. The mural then shifts to the nation’s prisons, where political prisoners confronted state violence and systemic injustice. Figures such as George Jackson and Angela Davis personify this bold resistance and political urgency. Their presence, moreover, anchors the decade’s fight against institutional oppression.
Next, the imagery follows demonstrators during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium protesting the Vietnam War. The scene then connects to related uprisings spreading across college campuses nationwide. Students at San Fernando Valley State College and Kent State, for example, demanded accountability and systemic change. These linked protests, consequently, reveal how dissent traveled rapidly between communities and movements.
As Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” gives voice to a generation mourning its war dead and protesting systemic injustice, the mural demonstrates artists and activists rising from refugee communities. The story and its origins therefore demonstrates further how art becomes a vehicle for testimony and transformation.
Los Angeles Art Murals
The Great Wall of Los Angeles is in continuous production under the artistic direction of Judith F. Baca. The artist has organized a team of three lead artists, four painting assistants, as well as visiting professional muralists. Due to the artistic technology by SPARC, a year-round mural production is possible. Thus SPARC’s Great Wall of Los Angeles is able to travel to various studios, galleries, and locations. This is made possible through the Mellon Foundation, California Natural Resources Agency, California Community Foundation, and Adams-Mastrovich Family Foundation.
For the past four decades, Judy Baca has been leading the charge to create massive works of social justice focused art murals. While collaborating with local communities, these murals reflect the essence of the neighborhood in which they live. In 1974, Baca founded the first City of Los Angeles Mural Program which would evolve into SPARC. Social and Public Art Resource Center is a community arts organization known for its murals. To this day, the artist continues to serve as artistic director of SPARC. Known as a renowned Chicana artist as well as an iconic muralist, she is also a social activist and UCLA Professor Emeritus. In March 2023, Baca was awarded the National Medal of Art Recognition by the President of the United States, Joseph Biden.
On view: February 21 – April 4 2026
What: Judith F. Baca Great Wall Of Los Angeles: The 1970’S – A Decade Of Defiance And Dreams
Where: Jeffrey Deitch N Orange Dr., LA 90038
When: Saturday, February 21, 2026, 6-8pm
Website: https://deitch.com
