In May, over two dozen mural projects took place in South Central, Los Angeles transforming the campus of the Maya Angelou Community High School into an artistic hub. Organized by Branded Arts, an LA-based company that brings public art to community-based settings, local and international artists such as Shepard Fairey, Faith XLVII, and Add Fuel are just a few that participated in the project. The Miami-based artist Axel Void was also on the roster of talent, creating a mural titled ‘We Are All Immigrants’ inspired by a photograph of a family barbeque taken just blocks from the school.
About the Mural
‘We Are All Immigrants’ is based on a photograph of a Mexican American family that the artist took while walking around the neighborhood. Aiming for a more direct connection to the community, his photorealistic mural is a captured moment of time that he spent with the family during their barbecue.
Depicting the concept of simplicity in everyday life, he created an impressive hyper realistic mural of the family’s 4-year old child Nico, which he also created a strong bond with. An interesting aspect of Void’s work is his continued ability to illustrate the importance of interaction, and the similarities that we as humanitarians all have.
In a statement on his instagram page Axel Void Said: “The concept of this wall is very similar to this feeling of simplicity in every day life. Our palpable and quotidian truth. The people we live and spend time with and the interaction between us.
During my time at the school I was able to give a mural workshop on the subject of “Home”. Together with @l.e.other teaching over 40 kids. Despite our different backgrounds, and age gaps this commonality became very obvious. I created a strong bond with many of them. We played football (soccer) every day, ate together, chatted, laughed and painted. Our differences some how only served as a strong link for interaction and conversation. Hearing kids list things like helicopter sounds, sirens, gangs or shots, as well as Tacos, Pupusas, toys on the front yard and palm trees. When asked what reminds them of home. Brings me to think that even though the context is different the feeling of home is the same. I have the impression we are all very similar, and we create borders as opposed to bridges with in our differences. This reminds me that in essence, for what ever this foolish word means, We are all immigrants.”
About the Artist
Axel Void (Alejandro Hugo Dorda Mevs) was born in Miami to a Haitian mother and a Spanish father. He was raised in Spain from the age of three, where he was strongly influenced by classical painting and drawing. It wasn’t until 1999 that Axel Void started writing graffiti, which influenced his forms of expression as well as the conception of his work taking a parallel path with the commercial world of contemporary art.
He moves between all kinds of different media such as mural, installation, oil and acrylic painting, audio and video recording and drawing which display his radical vision. Unpleasant, psychological and social issues that are yet many times interrupted by ironic statements dominate the content of Axel Void’s work. It is in this mirror to society that he reminds us of how fleeting time is and the importance of remembering.
