Artist Warren Montoya and students at RFK Charter Middle School in Albuquerque have collaborated on a work of art aimed at preventing gun violence in New Mexico.
“It was pretty fun, I was getting impatient with it because it’s a lot of work, but I love how it turned out,” Kaery Camacho, an RFK student, told KOB 4 this week.
The mural is packed with hard-hitting messages. There are graves marked with the locations of mass shootings around the country, along with the name of a local victim.
“You know when we do these projects there’s always the stories that come out, and things that come up for people in their own experiences, about their own lives,” Montoya told KOB 4.
Students were allowed to put their own touches on the mural using whatever inspiration that moved them.
“I like that they let us put our own special touch on it, so for me my cross for my uncle,” Camacho said.
The project is one of a dozen murals created in collaboration with New Mexicans to End Gun Violence.
“Our mission, we’re a non-profit, is to prevent gun violence in New Mexico,” Miranda Viscoli, co-president of the organization, told KOB 4. “It’s a multipronged, multifaceted problem that demands a multipronged approach.”
Organizers and student artists said they hope the murals cause people to think about how destructive guns can be.
“My hopes of accomplishing this is to make people realize that they’re harming other people, and they’re harming their families and that they’re harming themselves,” Rut Torrecillas, a student, told KOB 4.
Camacho knows the murals won’t automatically end gun violence, but they may make people pause and think.
“I think it’s going to at least put that thought in someone’s mind that there is gun violence happening around the world, and that we do need to do something about it,” she said.
