By Charly SHELTON

Artist Barbara Carrasco was commissioned to paint a mural to celebrate the bicentennial of Los Angeles in 1981. Her 80-foot-long panoramic mural, entitled “LA History: The Mexican Perspective,” featured the best the city has to offer – the beautiful missions, Angel’s Flight, Hollywood, etc. – as well as the worst moments of the city’s history – the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943, the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII, the slave labor of Native Americans who built the missions, etc. She received backlash from her commissioners, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, over some 14 of her less-than-happy depictions of the history of LA that were deemed too controversial.

“This was my chance to show what I wish was in the history books,” Carrasco said. She refused to remove the 14 vignettes and so the mural was pulled from exhibition at the bicentennial. It has only been shown twice in 25 years – last year at Union Station, and now on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles as a compliment to their fantastic exhibit, “Becoming LA.”

Featuring a weaving, flowing tapestry of history from the earliest Angelenos all the way through to the prominent Latino members of Los Angeles society circa 1981, this is educational, beautiful, touching and, above all else, finally, Sin Censura (uncensored). On display now through Aug. 18 at NHM-LA, 900 W. Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles.

  Charly Shelton