Juan Velazquez spent 2 days in Uvalde painting a mural of 10-year-old Alithia Ramirez, one of 21 people killed in the Uvalde school shooting. He’s among a group of artists helping bring memories to life.
For two days, under a hot Texas sun, Fort Worth artist Juan Velazquez and his team transformed a wall in Uvalde into a colorful memorial.
"One of the kids had particularly caught my attention because she was an artist," Velazquez said. "An attack on one artist is an attack on all artists."
Velazquez and his team painted a mural of 10-year-old Alithia Ramirez, one of 21 people killed in the Uvalde school shooting.
"There's so many school shootings now that every time you hear one, I'm literally like just hoping it not my daughter's school," Velazquez said.
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Velazquez is one of many artists donating time to do murals in Uvalde of all 21 victims.
"If all these artists from Texas are coming together, might as well have Fort Worth lead the way to do the first one and show our appreciation, and I guess, love, for that community," Velazquez said.
Velazquez said he wants his art to help to keep the focus on Uvalde and those who were lost,
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"Because a lot of time these stories, these people become a statistic...America forgets, 3-weeks later the next thing happens, nothing changes," Velazquez said.
The canvas is familiar. Two years ago, Velazquez collaborated on a mural of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen after she was murdered.
"The point of doing some of these things is to keep the stories alive so that people in charge actually do something, make some change," Velazquez said. "Because if we're going back to the same thing we're doing, that's not working."
Velazquez used Alithia Ramirez's own artwork in his mural of her.
"We put her artwork on her shirt," Velazquez said. "Even though she's not here to do a mural, there's a mural of her art now...as long as the mural is there, she will live."
