On this week’s episode I decided to do something a little different. The interview last week with Gustavo Lira took me a little bit down memory lane, back to when I was just getting into muralism. So, I thought it would be a great opportunity to start sharing my undergraduate thesis that I wrote back then - in 2011 and 2012! It was called: Latino/Latin American Muralism and Social Change: The Social Significance of the Cold Spring Mural. I combined research (from books and online documents) with first-hand interviews with artists (in Minnesota and Chile), as well as the practical experience of organizing a community mural in Cold Spring, Minnesota. As I organized this project I was studying at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in Minnesota, and I was blessed to have amazing advisors to guide me: Bruce Campbell and Elaine Rutherford, to whom I will be forever grateful. I have changed a lot since 2012, and so has the world of murals. So I thought it would only make sense to share it if I also shared my present-day thoughts about the information and ideas presented. I had a lot of fun with that, and I like how it turned out! In this episode we get into the background for my thesis, including the mural project I organized in Cold Spring, Minnesota. I also define what I mean by the term “social change.” A few questions I pose in the episode: • What first comes to your mind when you hear the word, “mural”? • My thesis is based on the idea that collaborative, community murals create the most, and the most sustainable, social change. In so many words (though I never wrote this exactly), a collaborative community mural is the “best” form of muralism. I’m not sure I 100% agree with this anymore. What do you think? • Is it your sense that Chile is striving to maintain cultural autonomy separate from the U.S.? Or do you think that Chile copies U.S. culture? Or is it a little of both? Link to my thesis: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/art_students/1/ Email: beyondthewall.masalladelmuro@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram! @beyondthewall.muralpodcast Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/Beyondthewallmuralpodcast-101606095832482/ Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/457416789405887/ Support Shannon on Patreon: www.patreon.com/shannonmcevoy Music from the album, INTERVALO by @kevtomas Thank you!