Malaquias Montoya, Untitled, 1980-81.

Restored in 2025 by goodspace murals

2025

El Centro Chicano y Latino, Stanford CA.

Malaquías Montoya created the mural at El Centro Chicano y Latino during his time as a visiting instructor in the Stanford Workshop on Social and Political Issues (SWOPSI) program at Stanford. The mural was a collaborative project with Stanford students, blending artistic expression with social justice education and engaging students in art as a tool for activism. The effort to paint a mural for El Centro was part of Montoya’s commitment to the Chicano Movement broadly, to “present a visual side of the Chicano Movement, using art as an educational tool to instruct and reflect is the role of the artist. To Stanford Chicanos, Malaquias offered “art, like pre-med, engineering, pre-law is important because we have a tradition of great art. It is necessary that we maintain that part of our heritage.” (La Onda, Volume IV No. 4, 1979-80). Learn more about this historic mural here.