Mural celebrates the South Side
Art group known for ‘largest outdoor gallery in Texas’
For years, street artist Shek Vega has wanted to paint something on the wall of the E-Z Wash laundromat at Southcross Boulevard and Zarzamora Street.
“I drive that route almost every day, if not two times a day,” said Vega, who grew up just a few blocks away and still lives in the neighborhood. “I’ve always seen that wall either really white or with graffiti on it, and I always wanted to create something in that space.”
He finally did.
Vega was the lead artist on “We Love Our Southside,” a mural completed just before Christmas that celebrates the area. The project is the latest creation by the San Antonio Street Art Initiative, which Vega founded and serves as board president.
The mural was initiated by Community First Health Plans to help mark the nonprofit health care provider’s 25th anniversary.
“It’s not a traditional kind of sponsorship, but it is something that is really going to show that we are invested in that local community,” said Theresa Scepanski, president and CEO of Community First. “Another piece of it, which I know a lot of people don’t necessarily think about, is art does play an important role in healing. It’s just a sort of calming, soothing sort of portrait.”
Vega worked with fellow South Side artists Eva Sanchez, Joe De La Cruz and Nik Soup on the mural. The imagery, which includes a man pushing a paleta cart and a woman making tortillas, was suggested by community members.
“Live From the Southside magazine helped gather 40 or so business owners and community leaders,” Vega said. “We had this huge Zoom meeting where everybody told us what represents the South Side and what makes it feel like home. They gave us a long list of all these beautiful things that the South Side has to offer.”
Vega used that list to create the design, then recruited artists to work with him to bring it to life.
The piece is the first of what Vega and his fellow artists with the Street Art Initiative hope will be murals on
“I’ve always seen that wall either really white or with graffiti on it, and I always wanted to create something in that space.” Shek Vega, street artist
the South Side.
The 2-year-old organization made its first big splash by creating dozens of murals along and near the St. Mary’s Strip, a project the artists dubbed “the largest outdoor gallery in Texas.” But they has always planned to spread out across the city.
The St. Mary’s Strip is “a creative neighborhood, the music’s there, and it actually livened up the neighborhood during the daytime,” Vega said. “And so we were really focused on that and very proud of that project, but I myself and twothirds of our board are from the South Side and it’s always been a goal to bring art into our neighborhoods. And so when Community First contacted us, it seemed like the perfect partnership to finally open those gates of the South Side and create some beautiful visual art there.”
The piece is popping up on social media, said Burgundy Woods, another Street Art Initiative board member from the
South Side. She works in fashion and has been tagged by friends in that field who have driven to the laundromat to take pictures in front of the mural.
Some of them were raised in the area then moved to other parts of town, she added.
“That’s been kind of magical for me to see people rekindle
their love of where they grew up,” she said.
The “We Love Our Southside” mural is located at the E-Z Wash laundromat at 1519 W. Southcross
Blvd.