Together
- Title
- Together
- Creator
- Raúl Villanueva García is a Minneapolis-based designer and illustrator originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. His creative work often blends Mexican cultural themes with imaginative and modern ideas. He has worked in community and youth education, providing guidance and support to young people while fostering creativity and positive change. Villanueva earned his BFA in Graphic Design with a Teaching Artist minor from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD). His art focuses on storytelling and cross-cultural connection through design, illustration, and branding (now with Target as a Designer). To learn more about his work, visit rvill.com, his ArtCrank profile, or his Instagram Account.
- Date
- Date of creation: June 19, 2022
Date of documentation: October 26, 2025 - Description
- Raúl Villanueva’s Together mural stretches across the exterior wall of the East Lake Street Target, presenting a symmetrical composition filled with color, rhythm, and balance. The mural features groups of people of color kneeling or standing on either side of a central image of six interconnected hands reaching toward a yellow butterfly. Each figure holds their hands open, as if giving or receiving, surrounding blossoms that appear to grow through and connect them. The entire composition flows horizontally, framed by a soft blue background that brightens the figures and reinforces the mural’s message of openness and unity.
Color is central to the design: rich yellows, pinks, reds, and greens contrast with the cool blue background, symbolizing warmth, life, and renewal. The repeated pattern of three butterflies in each section unites the mural, creating a rhythm that mirrors the theme of connection. The flowers’ stems intertwine through the hands and figures, visually representing growth as a shared process—each person contributing to something larger than themselves.
Villanueva’s use of symmetry and repetition brings a sense of balance and calm to the work, while subtle variations in gesture and tone prevent it from feeling static. The smooth shapes, rounded forms, and harmonious colors echo the community’s desire for healing after hardship. Viewed as a whole, the mural creates a gentle but powerful visual reminder of togetherness, compassion, and continuity. - Subject
- Together was created in 2022 as part of Target’s effort to rebuild and reimagine its East Lake Street location after the damage following the murder of George Floyd and the civil unrest that followed. Villanueva was one of seven local artists commissioned to create murals inspired by a poem written by Target team member and poet Shelby Lewis. Each artist visualized one of the poem’s themes—rooted, change, resilience, healing, growth, renewal, and together. Villanueva’s contribution reflects the spirit of his own neighborhood, the Powderhorn area, where he first arrived with his family after immigrating from Mexico.
The mural celebrates the resilience and strength that come from collective unity. The joined hands and recurring butterflies symbolize transformation, hope, and rebirth, while the community members depicted represent a shared sense of responsibility and support. In the aftermath of tragedy and rebuilding, Together transforms the store’s wall into a site of remembrance and optimism. It shows that art can help communities heal and redefine themselves after loss.
Villanueva’s mural also embodies principles of Creative Placemaking—using public art to empower communities, reflect local identities, and invite collaboration. By combining public participation, cultural storytelling, and visual harmony, Together turns a corporate wall into a canvas for collective meaning. Its bright palette and inclusive imagery remind viewers that healing and progress rely on shared effort.
Through Together, Villanueva offers not only an artistic interpretation of unity but also a heartfelt contribution to his own community. The mural stands as a living reflection of Minneapolis’s ongoing growth and its commitment to hope, equality, and renewal. - Rights
- Raúl Villanueva García
Anonymous - Source
- Villanueva García, Raúl. “Together Mural.” Rvill.com, https://www.rvill.com/work/together-mural Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
O’Brien, Seamus Liam. “New Mural Completed at the Lake Street Target, Minneapolis.” The Wonderful World Of, 18 June 2022, https://www.thewonderfulworldof.com/blog/2022/6/18/ps1fdfm02m6yr4mhg2akkgkse0f7l9
Villanueva García, Raúl [@rvill]. “I Want to Share the Amazing Opportunity I Had to Be Selected as One of Seven Artists to Design and Paint a Mural for the East Lake Street Target.” Instagram, 24 June 2022, https://www.instagram.com/p/CfMfI8nrQBF/?hl=en
Lewis, Shelby [@shelbyback]. “Poetry & Rhymes.” Instagram Bio, https://www.instagram.com/shelbyback/?hl=en
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Citation
Raúl Villanueva García is a Minneapolis-based designer and illustrator originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. His creative work often blends Mexican cultural themes with imaginative and modern ideas. He has worked in community and youth education, providing guidance and support to young people while fostering creativity and positive change. Villanueva earned his BFA in Graphic Design with a Teaching Artist minor from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD). His art focuses on storytelling and cross-cultural connection through design, illustration, and branding (now with Target as a Designer). To learn more about his work, visit rvill.com, his ArtCrank profile, or his Instagram Account., “Together,” Museum in the streets: Murals in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, accessed June 7, 2026, https://mspmurals.omeka.net/items/show/158.