Las Morenas

[soft slow piano] (paint can rattling) [spraying sounds] - To all the people that worked so hard.

They gave everything they could give because a lot of people may not go to the game but they're gonna be touched by this.

This is gonna remain, and so many people.

It's a reflection.

It's gonna tell us 'how do we feel', and 'how do we accept it?'

So, it goes further beyond the football game.

And, that's what's so beautiful about today.

- I knew from the beginning, I could feel it that this was a bigger purpose than myself that was about to happen.

Because in 2015, this wall is what started everything for me.

It changed my life.

It culturally, politically, spiritually woke me up.

Back then, you know, we painted two hummingbirds and our wall-- our mural got canceled because of regarding politics, immigration.

Right?

So, we weren't able to finish it.

But, full circle, here I am coming back to finish the hummingbirds and I didn't even realize that there's-- the two hummingbirds are back up there.

And so, I've always had this connection to the "colibri", the "huitzilopochtl", the hummingbird.

So now, it's circled me back, brought me back.

And then now, I get to bring my family with me, my community, that representation as indigenous people, as brown people.

And, it makes me so proud to be here.

[uplifting music] ♪ [hopeful organ/ guitar music] ♪ ♪ - When they offered me this role, I was really hesitant and worried and scared because it's like a big corporation.

And also, I'm an activist.

I'm a community organizer.

So, how is that gonna work out for me?

But, I knew that I needed to be in this space because if it was anybody else, they wouldn't have done it like me.

They wouldn't have brought their community with me.

♪ ♪ [uplifting music] ♪ ♪ - My name is Lucinda "La Morena" Hinojos.

I am Native American from my mother's side and Chicana from my father's side.

And on my mother's side, I am Apache, Chiricahua White Mountain descended, Yaqui and O'odham descendent from my mother's side.

♪ [electronic music] ♪ - This mural is the largest mural that the NFL has ever worked on, or had done for them.

It's in the middle of downtown and so proud to have done it with my indigenous girls and crew, and it's just been amazing.

I even had my son work with me too, but yeah.

It's just exciting because when you're downtown Phoenix, you look up and the mural's right there.

And again, it's not just a mural.

It's not just about Super Bowl.

It's bigger than that, you know?

It's a form of reclamation.

It's like taking back what was taken from us.

And, you can see it from the colors to everything's that in that mural.

It's like representation.

I'm trying not to cry!

Sorry!

(laughs) Ooh!

- My name is Eunique Yazzie.

I am from the Navajo Nation.

My clan is Naaneesht'ézhí Táchii'nii.

I'm born for Ma'ii Deeshgiizhinii.

My paternal grandfather was Kin Lichíi'nii, and my maternal grandfather was Táchii'nii.

I was the project manager that helped align a lot of the concept design that happened to go through approvals for the city and the NFL legal team.

What you see on the wall right now wasn't the original concept.

So, it changed along the way.

We finally got down to what you see on the wall!

That was the approved concept.

- (Apache introduction) Hello.

My name is Carrie Sage Curley.

I am from the Rock Strung into Willow People.

My mother's name is Selina Curley.

And, I am from Peridot.

Also, with San Carlos Apache Reservation.

I was born and raised there, and I'm an artist.

Loved art all my life, and I took a part on this role to bring one of my own images to life, here; the image of the Apache woman which is my little sister.

Lucinda actually had reached out to me.

And, if you guys see, like, in the football ticket, you know, the first painting, the original painting that she's done, she had a fancy shawl dancer and an Aztec dancer.

Being that, that was her heritage as well, you know.

Lucinda is actually Apache, too.

She's Chiricahua and White Mountain on her mother's side.

So, I told her 'well, why don't we do Apache?

I'm an Apache sister as well, you know?'

And, I want to paint what I-- who I am, and what I am.

And, I just want to paint the beauty of my culture, and for me that's strong matriarch, and that's women.

And, you know, when people think of Apache, right?

They think of Geronimo right off the bat but, you know, it's these women, these strong women and their camp dresses.

And, still today, you know, women wear their camp dresses proudly and that's their shield; that's their power.

So placing her there, it was just like a puzzle piece that was just perfect!

So, it all worked out.

Mm hm!

- The girl is a representation, like, of a really specific representation of the tribal community here.

And, the fact that it was painted by Natives in front of everybody, I think that says a lot about our community.

I think that culturally speaking, we're making a statement.

We're saying that we're here; that we can do big things.

That we're capable of being on this platform; that this is a big, large-scale mural and we completed it in 21 days and that we're able to overcome all these different obstacles and still, like, come out with a finished product that's gonna last, you know?

- My name's Anitra Molina, but I go by "Yukue."

I'm Pascua Yaqui from here in Arizona; Guadalupe, Arizona.

Grew up on the Pascua Reservation, and I'm one of the lead artists for this project.

I'm rooted in graffiti.

I grew up, you know, writing-- being a letter nerd!

And, spray paint is the love of my life!

(laughs) But, I bring a lot of those elements into my work.

I like to highlight the land.

I like to highlight my culture whether it be through my color palette or what I choose to paint.

I paint a lot of landscape, a lot of plants.

And, I transitioned into muralism because I felt graffiti is destructive.

I know!

But, it's the-- it was a catalyst in my career and in my life.

It showed me what could happen.

- Like I told the NFL, I never walk alone.

I walk with my ancestors.

I walk with community, and I bring my family with me.

And, that's exactly what I did.

From the videographers to photographers to the sound, to everything; to my crew.

I'm just like so happy that this-- it unfolded the way it did.

But, I know I didn't do this alone because my ancestors are here.

They're all here with me, and they helped me do this because I asked them for that help, you know?

And, when it came down to this mural, I got the whole team and it's been so, like, emotional because... (chuckles) (shaky) because all the messages I've been receiving from our Native people, they were so proud that this is being done because it feels like-- for some of them, it feels like they're being seen for the first time.

I came in this space to pave the way for future generations to come.

I planted those seeds that they can grow, and that they come too; come in these spaces.

Because if we're not in these spaces, then change and shift and can't happen.

- We really entered this space intentionally when we got up on the roof for the first time.

We had people come and bless this space for us, and just, like, set the tone for us to be able to do this for our communities and really understand the impact that we're going to be creating, the message that needs to be seen and heard from this painting.

And, this was before we even got to the wall.

We had asked several healers to be a part of this.

And, we did feathering and saging, and just kind of leading us through prayer and dance.

And, we did that on top of the roof and it was, for me, the first time that I've ever gone through a mural production with that in mind.

Like, keeping prayer close to our heart because we all know what our purpose is here and the intentionality behind it.

And, it's just-- it's such a-- there's a lot of complications and a lot of things that we had to maneuver through.

And so, that really helped ground us and really understand, like, why we're doing this and why we can't give up.

- Well, I go by the name of Wes.

Out here, everybody knows me as Wes CEO.

I got a liquor company called City Vodka.

I'm gettin' ready to do an event here at the night club that they're painting the mural above, and they needed access to the roof.

And, there's only one access to that roof and it's just through a little fire hatch.

And, you gotta, like, you know, work your way up and whatever.

But-?

It's an amazing work of art!

It's constantly getting people stopping, staring, taking pictures.

It's definitely a big staple in the city.

It creates a conversation and that conversation can kind of lead into knowledge that somebody might not know about a culture.

And typically, might not have even been brought up if it wasn't for, like, huge impactful murals like this on the side of a four-story wall.

Right?

So, I think it's incredible.

And, we definitely need more of it to start opening those conversations so we can all learn and stop assuming, stop judging, and be more open to learning and understanding one another.

- She was able to bring the beautiful colors, our-- reflect everything from our state into, one, the Super Bowl ticket.

Then, she took it to the next level and created this beautiful 90-foot mural that shows and highlights our beautiful state.

Hummingbirds, the colors, the cactus and, really, her background as somebody that comes from the tribal lands, and the heritage.

And, it speaks to really NFL being considerate of where they're coming because they're not just taking over the state.

They're really working with a local artist.

And, for me, when I saw that it was La Morena that was chosen, it brought a lot of sentiment to me because when I opened my office, I wanted my office to be blessed with a beautiful piece that reflected my brand which is called Colibri Collective.

And, "colibri" is a hummingbird.

And so, as you could tell, her pieces always have a hummingbird.

And, the hummingbird is vibrant, resilient, and very strong and colorful.

And so, she blessed my office when we first started.

And, to see that: woman-led, woman of color?

It's just gratitude and feeling really good about this work.

- This is a long time coming!

Land acknowledgment and just acknowledging the indigenous people of that land is very important, and that's how you-- you honor yourselves, too.

Right?

You honor and respect yourself is by honoring others, acknowledging others, for who they are.

And, that's-- as artists, we see that there's so much beautiful shades of people and so many vibrant cultures out there that Creator has blessed us with, and we all need to come together.

And, this collaboration on this mural is just exactly that.

We had so many tribes and different nations of people working together on this.

And, I hope that the NFL sees that and we're very thankful for this, especially woman-led.

Yeah.

♪ ♪ ♪ [soulful uplifting piano] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪