Michelle Angela Ortiz has been working for over a month on a mural at the intersection where she grew up, and the 30-foot-tall painting will be one of the largest in the Italian Market when it’s unveiled on Saturday. 

“Labor and Love Intertwined,” located at 906 League St., depicts real people as a tribute to the immigrants who have made up the neighborhood for so many generations. 

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The mural centers on Gabriel, who has worked at a produce stand for over 30 years. Ortiz describes him as a quiet, humble man and a hard-worker who takes pride in what he does. In the painting, he appears to be lifting an image of his hometown of Puebla, Mexico, in a vegetable crate that’s slung over his shoulder. 

Surrounding him are images of Ortiz’s mother, herself as a young girl, and her longtime friends who live and work nearby. 

“The mural does not just represent [them], but all of the workers in the market that are the most under-resourced,” said Ortiz, 46. “… But the reason for the imagery is not so much to represent us as workers, but as human beings. There’s so much more to our stories than our commitment to work.” 

love and labor murallove and labor muralProvided Image/Michelle Angela Ortiz

Michelle Angela Ortiz has dedicated her new mural to the immigrant communities in the Italian Market.

Growing up on 9th and League streets to a Colombian mother and Peruvian father, she recalls her family struggling with where to fit in the cultural and social fabric of the Italian Market and the city as a whole. But the landscape eventually became an inspiration, and in 2019 she created “Our Market”— a collaborative public art and storytelling project that highlights the area’s residents and business owners. 

“The market is and has always been a part of my and my family’s life,” she said. “I created the project as a way to open a space for those that felt the same way as I did and really expand the narrative of what the market authentically is … which has been a market of immigrants and migrants.” 

She and a team of local artists have created personalized awnings for business owners along 9th Street and pop-up “story carts,” which aim to collect personal anecdotes about community members. Lit-up art installations have also been designed to serve as an ode to the interests that people have outside of work. 

“The act of stopping and reflecting and dreaming is sometimes very hard to have happen in the market because everyone is hustling and working so hard,” Ortiz said. “What I hope we have done is not just about function, but allowing others to stop for a moment and share their stories.”

The Trump administration’s ramped-up deportation efforts have caused alarm in immigrant communities like those in the Italian Market. Gabriel’s last name was withheld from this story over fears of being targeted by enforcement authorities. Ortiz hopes this mural and the other projects she’s worked on will serve as a reminder of everyone’s shared humanity.

“These stories are really important … and murals have been a way of preserving these stories in different spaces,” she said. “I see the immigrant community as the backbone to our country, specifically to the market. How can we showcase why it’s important to invest in the market in the way that it deserves?”

On Saturday, a mural dedication ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. and will be followed by a preview of light installations at Duskaia Cafe at 1007 S. 9th St.