Vibrant mural celebrating Latino heritage draws praise in west Modesto

Over the course of two weeks, Vera Hernandez spent every day watching the mural on Johnny’s Market take form. As soon as it was finished, she took a picture with it and proudly hung the photo on her fridge.

“He couldn’t have picked a better building, in my eyes,” Hernandez, a resident of west Modesto for 67 years, said.

The mural, painted by Modesto artist Jose “Hocus” Manriquez, was possible thanks to a grant initiative to fund artwork in Stanislaus County. The county was awarded over $1.6 million from the California Arts Council to fund 17 art projects with the aim of beautifying the community and focusing on historically low-income areas.

While downtown Modesto boasts numerous murals, west Modesto has seen few, making Hocus’s creation a distinctive addition. The mural mirrors the west Modesto community, emphasizing its significant Latino population. It vividly portrays an Aztec woman and lowriders, emblematic of the area’s rich cultural tapestry.

The mural was unveiled Nov. 18 and celebrated with residents, food trucks, Aztec dancers and lowriders. Austin Romito, representing the Stanislaus Arts Council, spoke at the event, noting the overwhelmingly positive response from the community.

“It was cool to see a gathering on that side of town,” Romito said.

As part of the grant, Hocus is set to paint three more murals in Ceres, south Modesto and the airport neighborhood. He hopes to finish them by April.

“It’s like winning the lottery,” Hocus said of the grant, which also supports various art projects, including photography and hip-hop performances. This financial backing directly empowers artists, allowing them to spearhead the planning and execution of their projects.

CELEBRATING THE LATINO CULTURE THROUGH ART

Hocus, who’s also a tattoo artist, envisioned telling the community’s story through his mural. The artwork centers an Aztec woman, symbolizing the Latino community’s ancestors, while lowriders pay homage to cruising culture. There’s also a black panther, which is a nod to the Modesto High School Panthers.

Johnny Garcia, president of the Stanislaus County Latino Chamber of Commerce, stressed the importance of depicting Latino heritage in Modesto’s public artworks. While acknowledging the city’s beautiful murals, he emphasized the need for more cultural representation.

He hopes to see other communities that make up Modesto be represented through art as well.

Nasson Sanchez, a close friend of Hocus’s and a leader in the local lowrider community, played a key role in organizing the mural’s unveiling and bringing people out. Sanchez sees the mural as a means to challenge negative stereotypes associated with lowriders.

In his downtime, Sanchez often escorts youth in his lowrider for special events like weddings and proms. One girl he planned to chauffeur initially wanted to take photos in front of the murals downtown or at Stanislaus State for her quinceañera.

Knowing she was a fan of lowriders, Sanchez told her about Hocus’s mural and took her there for her photos instead. “I know without a doubt that it will motivate and will draw people to gravitate to that piece,” Sanchez said. The mural covers a 20-by-100-foot wall at Johnny’s Market, 229 H St.

ATTRACTING BUSINESS AND PEOPLE TO WEST MODESTO

Since its unveiling, the mural has drawn more people to west Modesto and customers to local businesses.

Johnny’s Market Manager Malek Shahibi noted increased foot traffic and more customers, with visitors parking their lowriders to capture photos.

As a longtime resident of west Modesto, Vera Hernandez has seen the area’s ups and downs, with businesses routinely opening and closing. She hopes that this mural will represent a new chapter for improvements on the west side.

“To see something as beautiful as that, I could never imagine would be in my neighborhood, on my street,” she said.

SHEDDING A NEW LIGHT ON THE WEST SIDE

The neighborhood has showered Hocus’s artwork with love. One resident told him that he turns to the mural for peace when he feels upset. Another told him how much it brightened the neighborhood.

Sanchez also is confident the mural will serve as a beacon of light to combat the bad rap that west Modesto gets.

Because the mural faces a school bus stop, children had the opportunity to witness its progress and completion and now have something vibrant to look at on weekday mornings.

Zsa Manriquez, Hocus’s 31-year-old daughter, helped paint the mural, along with two others. She said she remembers walking from school as a kid and having trouble finding anything positive to focus on during the trip.

“It’s hard to stay focused out here with a bunch of things happening around you,” she said.

Now, she sees kids pointing at the mural in excitement when they get dropped off from the bus, emphasizing the mural’s potential to instill hope and positivity for the youth in the community.