City Celebrates New Mural at Southwest Park During SkateJam Event

April 22, 2022 - The City of Albuquerque's Department of Arts & Culture will celebrate a new mural at Alamosa Skate Park during a SkateJam on Sunday, April 24 from noon to 4 p.m. Entitled LANDBACK, the mural was created by Joeseph Arnoux, a 2021 CityMaker, who worked with a number of local youth to complete the project.

With funding from the City and City Councilor Klarissa J. Peña, Arnoux developed the project to focus on youth and community partner engagement through public art and recreation. LANDBACK is an effort to educate and bring awareness to Indigenous issues commonly undermined and misunderstood in society. Through illusive, geometric shapes, and vibrant colors of topographic layers enveloping and engulfing the skate park terrain, an aesthetically pleasing perspective radiates in a cultural voice and invites participants to experience recreation in an intriguing way.

"With the assistance of valued mentors and students the creation and team effort facilitate conversations of compassion, tolerance, and respect for each other," explains Arnoux. "Maximizing social emotional wellness and art as the therapeutic vessel to help heal shared trauma and lack of resourceful outlets, this initial project will add to the continued dialogue of LANDBACK public art and decolonize the propagating toxic agendas of the opposing intolerant."

Located at 6900 Gonzales SW, with its entrance at the Ted M. Gallegos Community Center, Alamosa Skate Park is the largest skate park in the southwest. Designed for skates, skateboards, and BMX bikes, the park has 35,000 square feet of skateable area, a street course and two bowls, and modern structures to grind, scoot, and ride.

The City's CityMakers program brings Albuquerque artists - and their creativity - into the public sector to support and develop projects that positively impact and inspire communities. CityMakers work on collective and individual projects in partnership with a variety of City departments over the course of a 12-month period.