About the Social Justice Mural

Art can reflect and critique the injustice in the world as well as illustrate how we wish the world to be by promoting social justice. DVC Art students often are inspired by movements – social, political, cultural, and creative – centering voices often suppressed in our society. Their work celebrates solidarity against oppression in all its manifestations – individual, interpersonal, institutional, and structural. In this endeavor, the DVC Art Department is proud to collaborate with our DVC Social Justice Program. Social justice refers to creating a society (or community, organization, or campus) with an equitable distribution of resources and opportunities (Diane Goodman, Cultural Competency for Social Justice 2013). The goal is to have a transformative impact on our college and surrounding community culture and students who become engaged, informed, and active in their communities. The COVID-19 pandemic brought social and racial injustices to the forefront where inequitable health and safety issues disproportionately affected mortality rates for our most marginalized populations (CDC 2021). The Social Justice Mural invites us all to come together in unity to embrace racial equity and harmony, to build a future as vibrant as the image, and to bring healing and justice to our community.

This mural is a collaboration between the DVC Art Department and the DVC Social Justice program. It is located in the Commons area on the ACL Student Center building, adjacent to the PAC building. The mural was designed and created by DVC Art alumnus Coco Leeper and the DVC Student Art Club from 2019-2021, with support from ASDVC.