Vibrant room-size murals symbolizing the struggle of Latina/Latino students at the University of Illinois were painted in 1974 by artist Oscar Martinez, with the help of students, as a measure to prevent the new Latino Cultural Center from being closed. The Department of Latina/Latino Studies and La Casa Cultural Latina murals, once located at 510 East Chalmers Street, were removed from the facility by art handling company Terry Dowd, Inc. in 2016 and then transported to Parma Conservation in Chicago.
Efforts and petitions to save the murals date back three decades on campus. A feasibility study was performed in November 2013 by Johnson Lasky Architects which outlined recommendations for extraction, transport, and storage options. More information about the murals and project scope is available at:
http://go.fs.illinois.edu/mural.