2021 Community Spirit Award: Jesus “Cimi” Alvarado, El Paso artist

By Reyes Mata / El Paso Inc. Dec 25, 2021 Updated Dec 26, 2021 0

The 2021 Community Spirit Award recipient is a son of the Segundo Barrio, relentless advocate for borderland pride and the embodiment of the modern Chicano movement.

Described earlier this year by The New York Times as “one of the kings of El Paso muralism,” Jesus “Cimi” Alvarado has lifted the region’s cultural prominence this year with his artwork and appearances in national media – the ABC 20/20 series “Soul of a Nation” in September, the PBS show “La Frontera” in October and the appearance of his murals this summer on the big screen in “The Forever Purge.”

Despite his rising prominence as a borderland artist, Alvarado said he’s surprised to be considered for a high-profile El Paso award. His art is not something he “expected to get recognized for.”

“I’m just doing something that I love,” he said. “It’s something that I do for the city I love, for my people, so I have a mixed feeling about getting an award for it. But I’m grateful for that. I’m honored.”

Known more often as “Cimi” – the Mayan expression for a symbolic rebirth after death – the 44-year-old El Paso artist has established himself as an innovative creator, deeply in tune with borderland history and an unapologetic advocate for the promotion of Chicano culture.

Born in Juárez in 1977, he was naturalized in the United States and raised in Segundo Barrio “right between El Paso Street and Oregon Streets, at 709 Alley E., in front of Sacred Heart,” said Alvarado, and pulled up his sleeve to reveal an intricate tattoo of El Paso’s iconic church on his arm.

“I’m just doing something that I love. It’s something that I do for the city I love, for my people, so I have a mixed feeling about getting an award for it. But I’m grateful for that. I’m honored.”

Jesus “Cimi” Alvarado

“When I would come out of my apartment, that’s the first thing I would see,” he said.

As an elementary school student, it was also Sacred Heart Church that sponsored his enrollment at private schools in other parts of El Paso. After his first year at Cathedral High School, he opted for Bowie High School in his Segundo Barrio neighborhood.

There he met a teacher, Oscar Lozano, who taught passionately about history and cultural identity, which resonated with Alvarado.

“By going to these classes with Lozano, and learning more about who I was, learning about Chicano history, I was like, wow, give me more,” Alvarado recalled.

Jesus ‘Cimi’ Alvarado in his studio — Jesus ‘Cimi’ Alvarado works in his studio in the Segundo Barrio on Dec. 15. Photo by Cosima Rangel

With the spark ignited in him to learn the history of the Mexican American experience, another high school teacher would take that spark and build it into the fire that would stay with him as an artist.

“At this time, I’m going from private school back to public school, and learning about Chicano history,” Alvarado said. “So I walk into a classroom and I see paintings of cholos, and I’m like, ‘This is crazy!’” he recalls. “And I wanted that. I’m like, ‘Feed me.’”

The classroom belonged to Gaspar Enriquez – internationally known titan of Chicano art and also from the Segundo Barrio – who was an art teacher at Bowie for more than three decades. Enriquez served as Alvarado’s mentor for many years, helping to open a path for the young aspiring artist.

“His beautiful murals of life and gente on our border draw visitors to the barrio and around town. … I don’t know of anyone coming from the barrio who has contributed so much to his community at such a young age.”

Gaspar Enriquez

And Enriquez continues to speak proudly of his former student.

“As Jesus’ art teacher at Bowie High School, I was heartened by his determination to become a successful artist,” Enriquez wrote in an email, one of many sent to this newspaper by El Pasoans in support of Alvarado’s nomination.

“Jesus followed through,” he wrote. “His beautiful murals of life and gente on our border draw visitors to the barrio and around town. … I don’t know of anyone coming from the barrio who has contributed so much to his community at such a young age.”

On a recent morning, Alvarado stood in front of his latest mural – a towering burst of sunrise colors surrounding an eagle, wings lifted in flight and talons grasping a billowing ribbon spread across nearly 100 feet of what was once a bare concrete wall.

He was in San Elizario and had been commissioned by the school district to paint an expansive mural that embodied the cultural pride of the school and its historic border community.

Reflecting on his role as an artist, he resisted the assertion that he is “defending” borderland culture. That implies a weak cultural position, he said, and stressed that the region’s artistic movement should always be on the offensive.

“The word ‘defending’ is reactive. I’m not going to let myself be backed into a wall where I have to ‘defend’ myself. We have to be proactive” he said. “If people want to go into the barrio and start gentrifying, well we need to go out there and start painting and make sure that we claim our space,” he said. “That’s why I want to keep painting our walls and keep filling them with our stories.”

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