Yokuts Mural Celebration

(PORTERVILLE, CALIF.) The community is invited to a public celebration on Sunday, March 5 from 1 – 4 pm to honor the completion of a 240 foot mural by Poyomi Mcdarment, a Tule River Yokuts artist, on the north corner of Wallace and Orange and across the street at the mural site, 209 E. Orange. The mural celebrates local Yokuts culture, presence, and relationship to the land.

This is a free, public celebration.

The mural is the first large public art project by the artist, who usually works in illustration and also designs a swimwear line. Mcdarment has scaled her illustrations up for this mural, and shares “I try to create “ideal situations” or recreate memories of things I have done or moments that felt beautiful to me.

The focal point is women connecting with nature, or connecting to culture… The women are not to scale and are meant to be much smaller than their environment. This choice in scale can help the viewer feel like these plants are larger than real life, and they are.”

The mural was made possible by the financial stewardship of Carly Tex, a Mono cultural practitioner and California Indigenous language advocate. Tex was stewarding creative placemaking funding from Artplace America, and reached out to Fresno-based Greñuda Productions, a collective of artists and curators working to support artists in the Central Valley. “My vision was to feature Indigenous art made by Indigenous people from the Central Valley Tribes. I was so fortunate to have made connections with Greñuda Productions which had the team to make it happen.

My hope is that this is one of many murals that pop up throughout the Valley” said Tex. Greñuda Productions connected with Mcdarment and partnered with Native Star Foundation through Kellie Carrillo, a Tule River tribal member and Porterville Vice-mayor; and Celeste Ybarra, owner of Poyomi Inyana beauty bar, to secure the wall and facilitate the mural process. Kellie Carillo states: “Being a part of this project unveiling is meaningful to myself as a Yokuts person; the vision Poyomi has created is a gift from her to our People, and our local community. Personally, I perceive her mural as a view into our world as it was, it’s a view of the land and an acknowledgement of the first People with a reminder of what was specifically in this space. For our city, the location is also significant as the development of a trail with recreational facilities will be implemented to connect outdoor spaces for our residents and community to enjoy for years to come.”

Fresno Arts Council is the fiscal sponsor for this project.