Desi Mundo collaborated with The Greenlining Institute (Greenlining) to create an eight-story mural titled AscenDance that was painted on Greenlining Institute’s 360 Center building in downtown Oakland. The completed mural was celebrated on October 16, 2021.
Mural production incorporated robust community engagement, drawing together local artists and culture keepers with other Oakland community leaders and Greenlining’s staff. Greenlining hosted a talk and initial presentation by Mundo, panel discussions, film screenings, and sessions with stakeholder groups to refine project themes, gather recommendations for cultural and equity leaders to be featured, and gather responses to proposed designs.
This project had been under discussion for two years at the time the Creative Work Fund grant was awarded. Mundo’s nonprofit organization, the Community Rejuvenation Project, was awarded funds as part of a community benefits agreement from a developer whose project will obscure Universal Language, an existing Desi Mundo mural. A short documentary on the AscenDance project also is being created.
Founded in 1993, Greenlining’s mission is to advance economic opportunity and empowerment for people of color through advocacy, community and coalition building, research, and leadership development.
Desi Mundo has 30 years of experience as a muralist. Schooled in Chicago’s aerosol art tradition, he also draws inspiration from the community mural movement. He has been based in the Bay Area for more than a decade.
Photo by Spencer Wilkerson