In fall 2018, UC Irvine received more applications from Chicano/Latino students than any other UC campus, a factor that contributed to the establishment of UC Irvine’s Latinx Resource Center (LRC) in 2019.
LRC Program Coordinator and UCI alumna Victoria Rocha said the center filled an important gap at UC Irvine that she missed in her undergraduate experience, despite being an actively engaged campus leader.
“Personally, for me, the cultural, multicultural or Latinx-identifying student organizations at the time didn’t really call my name as a student to become involved in them,” Rocha told New University.
Excelencia in Education, a program that identifies and promotes resource centers that have been shown to increase Latino student success, recognized LRC in 2024 as a model of effective support for Latino students.
One of the center’s first initiatives was a $10,000 community mural project launched in 2022, made by Orange County-based muralist Damin Lujan. The graffiti-style mural is visible from the doorway of the Rooted in Student Empowerment or RISE Suite, LRC’s and the Dream Center’s communal office space, as it stretches from the ground to the ceiling. The mural is stenciled with a large butterfly design which encircles various sketches, including an anteater clad in a cap and gown. This mascot sketch aligns with the LRC mission statement on their website to “ensure a clear pathway to graduation through the empowerment of Chicanx and Latinx students.”
The LRC Art-in-Residence program develops partnerships between local Latino/Chicano artists and UC Irvine through displaying their work. The program was founded by LRC Director Adelí Durón in 2024. The same year, L.A.-based painter Ramon Ramirez’s artwork was put up for exhibition at the center on loan. During an art show at Chapman University, Ramirez proposed to lend Durón some of his art pieces to the LRC.
“He said, you know they do like this artist-in-residence at the Getty and all that. But what if it’s an art-in-residence and the art is on loan and I was like, oh my God, you’re reading my mind,” Durón told New University.
After that, Durón worked to ensure the artwork was covered against damage and met institutional guidelines for displaying art, thus the Art-in-Residence program was founded. Ramirez’s art was installed on July 1, 2024 and will be on display through June 30, 2025 on the LRC lobby wall.
The center’s colors are aqua, orange-sherbet and watermelon and are prominent in the logo branding and walls of the center.
“So when we think about Antigua or like the hills of Tijuana, you see this array of colorfulness, of the homes — Latinos tend to use a lot of color on their walls, and I wanted to replicate that with the color choice of the center,” Durón told New University.
The art pieces Durón envisions for the center are by Chicano/Latino artists and showcase their background. For example, four of Ramirez’s six loaned pieces are set in Mitclán — the underworld in Aztec mythology and a central part of Mexican culture and spirituality.
The LRC hosted a special lunch gathering with Ramirez on Jan. 31. The event had a 30-minute slideshow showing his previous works and included a question-and-answer segment where he provided insight into the stories behind each piece.
Ramirez’s paintings were displayed chronologically in the slideshow. The first paintings shown were paintings from his early career in his 20s and 30s. Ramirez explained to the audience that the selection of music was also appropriate to the phase of his life when he painted it — including an alternative/indie rock song “Pet Sematary” by Starcrawler.
“The paintings were a little bit more political. I was kind of angry in my 20s or 30s,” Ramirez told the audience.
At the end, Ramirez expressed gratitude to Durón for providing him with the space.
“What I love about the Latinx Center — and I thank [Durón] — is that you get to live with the paintings for a year,” Ramirez told the audience. “And I hope after graduating one of you in the health field starts their own clinic and calls artists to display their paintings. We need each other, how’s that?”
Clara Carvalho is a Features Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. She can be reached at claraac@uci.edu.
