UCLA

This is the first comprehensive study of the mural La Dualidad (The Duality) designed by Chicano artist Guillermo “Yermo” Aranda in collaboration with Los Toltecas en Aztl�n located inside El Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego, California. The thesis conducts a visual analysis of La Dualidad (The Duality), and discusses the changes in design from 1970 to the current version finished in 1984. By reading it in dialogue with the Mexican muralist Rufino Tamayo’s Dualidad (Duality) mural of 1964, as an example of an earlier mural that visualized the Mesoamerican concept of “duality” through the depiction of the Aztec gods Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, I propose that the San Diego mural presents the distinct qualities of Chicano muralism. Most notably, La Dualidad (The Duality) re-conceptualizes the concept of “duality” in a future-forward visual interpretation that incorporates what I term a “syncretic-continuum” of ideas, philosophies, and symbolism from Amerindian, Mexican, Mexican American, and Chicano/a cultures. By utilizing a “Xicana futurist lens,” I observe a future-conscious perspective that envisioned the forthcoming generations of Chicanos and Chicanas as active protagonists and creators in a dynamic and technologically advanced American society. This study is the first to theorize futurism and “Chicanafuturism” to conduct a social art historical in-depth reading of Chicano murals.