A mural is defined as a painting or other work of art executed directly on the wall. Murals can have significant meanings within a community and society because they can communicate social, political, and racial issues. Los Angeles born street artist El Mac is famous around the world for his portraits of everyday people from different cultural backgrounds. For example, he painted a mural in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam of a person from a different country in 2012. The significance of El Mac’s murals is to capture the reality of individuals no matter their culture by taking a picture of a person doing everyday actions or activities.

El Mac, also known as Miles MacGregor was born in 1980 to an artist and engineer. According to his artist statement, he began getting into graffiti and spray paint in between 1994 and 1995, but he has been studying art since his childhood. He also stated he has seen the book titled Subway Art by Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper; he was blown away by the seventies culture of spray paint. Additionally, El Mac was inspired by classic European painters such as Caravaggio and Art Nouveau symbolists Klimt and Mucha. Within the mid-'90s his artistic focus became life-like paintings of human faces and figures. To develop his talents, he began to paint portraits of his friends in public spaces both illegally and legally. Around this time, he started to paint his own interpretations of classic European paintings; this led him to be authorized by the Groeninge Museum in Brugge, Belgium in 2003. As time went on he has been authorized to paint murals across the world in places such as Denmark, Canada, and Cuba.

El Mac painted this mural on December 7, 2012, for the 7^th Asia Pacific Triennial in Australia according to his blog titled Mac Art. The title of this mural is Birds of No Nation, and it is in collaboration with Shamsia Hassani and the Propeller Group. The color scheme of the mural consists of reds, browns, tints of gray and white. This color scheme makes me think of rebellion and gives me the idea that this woman, in particular, goes against her cultural standards for women. Additionally, the woman seems to be gazing off into the distance with her hands facing up, which makes me believe she’s praying or worshipping. Lastly, the title of the mural Birds of No Nations presents the idea that this woman is flying free with what she wants to do in life, but in result, she was scolded by many people in her country. This prediction comes from the term No Nations because it makes me believe that not having a nation means no one is beside you and everyone in your society is against you.

According to El Mac’s blog post on Birds of No Nations the women in the photo is Shamsia Hassani. Hassani is the first and only female graffiti writer in Afghanistan, she is also an associate professor in the Fine Arts Department at Kabul University. The Arabic words in the back were done my Hassani and they mean Birds of no nation/ Are all captive/ Like me/ With no voice for singing. Those words in the background brings the painting altogether because it shows that people like Hassani have no voice in Afghanistan, more so women do not have a voice or even rights in places such as Afghanistan. In places like this, women are usually seen as property or housewives that take care of the family; they aren’t seen as human beings and are unable to get the same respect men receive.

El Mac painted this mural on May 24, 2012, for the All City Canvas public art project in Mexico City. The title of the mural is María de la Reforma; it is over ten stories high and is located by the Paseo de la Reforma, one of the city’s largest and most famous roads. The mural consists of mainly black and white, but in the middle of the mural, there are shades of red. These colors can be interpreted as dark and cool toned, meaning this mural is very serious. The subject of the mural is of an elderly woman, who seems to be glaring up at the sky. The woman also has her hands together as if she is praying. I believe she is praying for hope or freedom of someone or something in her life that is close to her due to the expression on her face.

According to El Mac’s blog the mural is based on photos he took of a social activist and poet named María Guardado. In 1980 she was tortured and left for dead by the government forces during the civil war in El Salvador. She was one of the thousands of civilian victims of war and during that time the US backed up the Salvadoran government and employed death squad to kill innocent people; she survived and eventually fled the country to Los Angeles. After she fled; she became a passionate fighter for the social justice of Salvadoran immigrants and refugees who moved to the US because of the violence that was happening in EL Salvador. Additionally, she protested against the US because they were the cause of the violence, destruction, and killings that were happening in El Salvador and for most of her life she demanded justice for the past US and Salvadoran abuses of her home country. Sadly, Guardado died on May 16, 2015, at the age of 81 in Los Angeles, California.

El Mac painted this mural on November 23, 2009, in Salt Lake City, Utah. This was in collaboration Retna, also known as Marquis Lewis a Los Angeles born street artist who made his debut in the mid-1990s. This mural presents many bold colors such as yellow’s, blue’s, green’s red’s, and orange’s. Additionally, there are also darker colors to set the bolder colors apart from each other and in result of this the image becomes very busy and cluttered with its many designs and colors within the background of the image. Furthermore, having the busy background will draw people in to look at the image when they pass by it, giving them the question of what does it all mean? Based on the title of the mural I can infer that the person painted is a religious figure in the Latin culture because Ave Maria is also known as Hail Mary; a Catholic figure. Lastly, the person in the mural is showing their heart and I infer that the heart represents the people who believe in this religious figure and has an extreme love for this figure.

According to El Mac’s blog the mural was commissioned by FICE and is forty-four feet tall. The image is of Hail Mary, and around her head is a halo in Latin text and it states the beginning of Ave Maria. Additionally, the mural was done with over eighty cans and bottles of spray paint and acrylic paint. Lastly, according to a news video about the mural both El Mac and Retna wants the mural to be their way of giving back to Salt Lake, also they do not want the mural to controversial, but enjoyable. I believe the artists doesn’t the want the mural to be controversial because they want to show how street art can be something positive and beautiful.

El Mac painted this mural on September 9, 2011, in Bristol, England. The mural has a consistent color scheme of black and white; these colors are very neutral colors. Additionally, there are two subjects of the mural one being a baby and the other being a woman. Both subjects of the mural seem to be distracted by something, but they are connected with each other by their hands. Furthermore, the fact that the subjects are distracted makes the mural more appealing to people who pass by it on the street. Lastly, this image can be interpreted as a single mother holding her child because they are the only two subjects in the photo and it isn’t a family photo with a man or husband. According to El Mac’s blog the mural is located in the center of the city on a building that is six stories high. The mural was painted during the event in Bristol called “See No Evil” to make one of the drab streets in the city better by having murals on multiple buildings. El Mac stated this mural is an homage to single mother’s in Bristol because it is one of the highest rating cities with single mothers in Europe.

El Mac is an inspirational muralist who paints murals to capture the reality of individuals no matter their culture by taking pictures of a person doing everyday actions or activities. His murals present many color schemes, this make’s each one of his murals unique in their own right. Additionally, he pays homage to everyday heroes around the world from community activist to single mothers. Lastly, the questions that needs to be presented is: can murals play a role in the legalization of street art? And can murals be a new way to connect cultures around the world?

Check out more of El Mac's artwork: http://mac-arte.blogspot.com/