'I bring my people with me': 1st Chicana, Indigenous Super Bowl artist is inspired by community

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A work of art that combines her Chicana and Indigenous roots embraced by the Sonoran Desert and other Arizonan emblematic elements.

That's how local artist Lucinda "La Morena" Hinojos describes the thought process behind the designs she created for the Super Bowl LVII, set to take place on Feb. 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Game day tickets carry her design.

“I've always thought that the Super Bowl ticket is the centerpiece of this hallmark event, and for me, as the first Brown Indigenous woman to design the ticket’s artwork, it is amazing and something I’m very proud of," Hinojos said in an interview with La Voz/The Arizona Republic.

Hinojos' selection as this year's NFL theme artist was a historical moment, being the first Chicana and Native American woman to design for the Super Bowl, one of the most viewed sporting events in the United States and around the world.

La Morena’s Super Bowl LVII mural on the side of a building on the corner of First and Washington streets is shown in downtown Phoenix on Feb. 7, 2023.
La Morena’s Super Bowl LVII mural on the side of a building on the corner of First and Washington streets is shown in downtown Phoenix on Feb. 7, 2023.

"I'm so proud and I'm so happy to be here because like I told the NFL when I first had one of the first early-on Zoom calls ... 'I never walk alone. I walk with the community and I bring my people with me, my ancestors, my spirit guide,'" she said. "And so for me, that's a form of culture shifting and breaking those barriers down and being in these spaces ... it's just a form of reclamation, you know?"

In her design, Hinojos captures her multicultural roots as well as those of the Pascua Yaqui, Pima, White Mountain, Apache, and Chiricahua tribes. The emblematic desert cactus, the Salt River lands and the Aztec dancers included in her artwork are representative of her identity, as well as the hummingbird, an element that has been with her since her childhood, she said.

"I don't paint the hummingbird just because it's beautiful … it also represents something in both countries. In the Aztec culture, when the warriors would reincarnate, they would come back as hummingbirds," she said.

Hinojos hopes to one day show a "behind the scenes" look at how her design came to life, which is sure to draw millions of eyes from around the world to Arizona. Her process is being captured by Phoenix-based filmmaker Matty Steinkamp, whose images of Hinojos standing proudly next to her NFL design have been published a thousand times over.

"I knew this was an important piece because I could just feel it … I didn't know what was going to happen. But now this is all validation, and that's just what happens with my work, you know, the murals, the paintings," she said. "I just felt a lot of that, that love and that that energy ... because this is medicine for people, the art."

Combining art and advocacy

The Glendale-born artist is known for her murals and artwork that depict Brown and Indigenous joy, as well as the struggles these communities face.

Inspired by graffiti, she began creating underground art in Phoenix in 2010, specifically on Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix.

At that time, the anti-immigrant law Senate Bill 1070 had just been signed, launching Arizona at the epicenter of anti-immigrant rhetoric. The "show me your papers" bill made Arizona the strictest state in the nation for cracking down on undocumented immigrants, forcing many immigrants, documented or not, to go into hiding.

"That was the first time I was ever scared to be Brown, but I still didn't tune in. I wasn't like out there in the streets walking with everybody. But it (SB 1070) woke me up culturally, politically, spiritually," she said.

Inspired by the activism she saw in her community, her work began to depict just that.

Lucinda Hinojos' section of the "No More Stolen Sisterse" mural, seen behind the Churchill near First and McKinley streets in Phoenix on May 11, 2019, represents missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Lucinda Hinojos' section of the "No More Stolen Sisterse" mural, seen behind the Churchill near First and McKinley streets in Phoenix on May 11, 2019, represents missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

One mural on Roosevelt Row that garnered national attention is "No More Stolen Sisters," which depicts a Native American woman with a red hand painted over her face, calling attention to the murdered and missing Indigenous women epidemic.

Colors of La Comunidad is another of the murals that became iconic in south Phoenix, created in association with Petra Falcón from Promise Arizona in 2018. The mural gives a message of hope to "Dreamers" who long for the approval of the DREAM Act, congressional legislation that would allow young immigrants in the country illegally who were brought here as children to remain in the country if they meet certain criteria.

In 2021, she dedicated a mural to late photojournalist and close friend of hers Nick Oza. The award-winning Republic visual journalist died in 2021 in a traffic accident. She celebrated Oza for his ability to delve into social and political issues, such as immigration, and capture the faces of those most impacted by them.

Walking alongside her community

While excited at first when contacted by the NFL, the potential for nationwide backlash was always a lingering thought when creating her art.

"I was really nervous about how people are going to feel because, you know, where I'm in — Arizona ... we've had some hard times," she said, making note of SB 1070 and the ongoing struggle that migrant and Indigenous communities continue to face in the state and across the U.S.

"And then I always feel like, 'You know what? We're right in the Lucha (fight) and I'm also a community organizer, activist too, and so on.'"

Lucinda Hinojos, also known as La Morena, walks past her signature as she and a crew work on the Super Bowl LVII mural on the side of a building on the corner of First and Washington streets in Phoenix on Jan. 23, 2023.
Lucinda Hinojos, also known as La Morena, walks past her signature as she and a crew work on the Super Bowl LVII mural on the side of a building on the corner of First and Washington streets in Phoenix on Jan. 23, 2023.

But taking her work mainstream — while not a foreign concept for her given past collaborations with the Arizona Coyotes and Nike — made it worthwhile. It gave her a chance to share some of her culture with the world, and at the same time, bring her community with her.

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According to Hinojos, the U.S. is filled with Chicano talent who haven't been given the chance to make themselves known, make their mark.

"There's so much Chicano talent. We have a big demographic here (Phoenix) and there's so much culture, there's so much beauty in it. I just feel like we just don't get that much love. But now I'm hoping that, you know, the world sees that and there's more representation," she said.

Along with creating designs for the Super Bowl, she and other Phoenix artists will make history as they produce the NFL’s largest-ever Super Bowl mural.

"This has never been done with NFL ... And I'm working with five other Indigenous artists, which, again, this is another historic moment," Hinojos said.

Downtown Phoenix Indigenous- and women-led collective Cahokia Socialtech and Artspace’s Indige Design Collab as well as artists Randy L. Barton (Navajo), Anitra “Yukue” Molina (Yaqui) and Carrie “CC” Curley (San Carlos Apache) will contribute.

The collective of artists began working on the mural in late January and is expected to be finished the week of the Super Bowl.

Painted on the walls of the Monarch Theater, off Washington Street between First and Second streets, the mural will be a symbol of Indigenous collaboration and highlight the narrative of community and unity, representing each of the artists' backgrounds and cultures.

Republic reporter KiMi Robinson contributed to this article.

Reach La Voz reporter Javier Arce at Javier.arce@lavozarizona.com or on Twitter @JavierArce33.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona artist Lucinda Hinojos, 'La Morena,' inspired by community