La Cigarra
- Title
La Cigarra
- Creator
Aaron Johnson-Ortiz
Aaron Johnson-Ortiz is a Mexican American artist based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Aaron originally grew up in Guatemala and in Chiapas, Mexico, but has lived in Minnesota for a majority of his life. Aaron holds a Master in Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Michigan, and his art features themes of labor rights, immigrant rights, and the transnational Latino experience, aiming to bring light to his culture and celebrate what he and his family cherish. Featured in St. Paul’s “Chromazone”, is his mural titled “La Cigarra” (pictured above), which was finished in 2021. His mural “Workers United in Struggle” was named “Best Mural” by City Pages in 2018. Aaron also serves as the Director of Arts & Cultural Engagement at CLUES, where he is the director of the Latino-focused gallery, a folk arts program, a muralism apprenticeship and many community-centered events. One of Aaron’s main hobbies is backpacking the North Shore with his dog.
Aaron’s mural, “La Cigarra”, expresses many ideas with a central theme of resurgence. Aaron notes, “The mural expresses my feelings about the spring, and about coming out of COVID, and feeling more open and human, and being more connected to people. The characters in the image represent individuals bringing the best of themselves forward, bringing their internal essences, and giving that to the broader community” (Chromazone). Aaron chose the cicada as a representation of the act of “coming out of the shadows” and enjoying their surroundings. A majority of the mural was influenced by Mexican folk art; the sun and the moon, and the cicadas, which in Mexico serve as a symbol for “singing and living life to the fullest before death” (Chromazone). Another of his notable projects includes the Twin Cities Worker Solidarity Mural, created for Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL), a workers' rights organization. This piece celebrates collective action and workers' struggles, using vibrant visuals to highlight themes of unity and resilience.- Date
- Chroma Zone, 2021
Photographed: 10/28/2024: 5:15pm - Description
- “La Cigarra” by Aaron Johnson-Ortiz is a beautiful mural placed in St. Paul’s Chroma Zone. It is comprised mainly of a set of hands holding a Cicada, as blue and yellow streamers flow away containing phrases in Spanish. On either side of the mural, which covers two adjacent sides of a gas-station building, lies a sun and a moon shown a bright yellow/orange color and cool blue, respectively.
The piece does not show much symmetry or patterns structurally but is very eye-catching in the sense of color use, shape and texture. The colors are bright and draw attention to key components of the piece. The text on the ribbons is a bit difficult to fully translate to English but can be roughly translated. The ribbons appear to read "Do not sing me songs of love, for I do not want to know what they are” and "Like a rumor that sneaks in, you go asking, 'Will I live?'"
Symmetry
The colors in this mural seem pastel-like, although many of the colors are lighter & bright. The brown hands, resembling a tree, holding the cicada, and green leaves behind are the main focus points of the mural, with the contrast between the hands and cicada drawing the viewer’s attention to the focal point of the piece. The mood and tone of this mural seem like they want to be more stable throughout most of the mural but with hints of inspiration and life stemming from the hands and cicada. The flowers also are different colors on each side, with the roses by the moon and a bright-pink flower by the sun. Many earth tones were used in this mural to show the nature aspect of the mural and components themselves. Line is the biggest component of this mural, where most of the composition of each shape is made of lines.
Color
The size of the lines mimic the size of the shape they compose, with very broad strokes being in the hands. These curves create a sense of organic movement, making the composition feel alive and interconnected.
Size
The lines give a sense of nature within the mural, the combination of the broad strokes and brown tint on the hands look similar to how the trunk of a tree is composed. Thick outlines around major components, such as the hands and moth, help define these focal points against the intricate background, adding depth and clarity. The texture in this mural is prominently seen through the brush strokes throughout each piece of the mural. Very broad strokes are noticed in the hands, where there are layered, shorter strokes in the sun, almost looking like Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. The use of these lines and strokes are more seen in the “living” objects, whereas the ribbons look smoother.
Line
The artist uses the wall’s surface to create layers, with distinct foreground, middle ground, and background elements. The hands, moth, and ribbon are in the foreground, while the flowers and leaves serve as the middle ground. This layering allows for the mural to have a sense of depth and seem a lot larger than it actually is. The depth created by these layers enhances the three-dimensional environment, giving the viewer a sense of actual nature.
Depth - Subject
- “La Cigarra” by Aaron Johnson-Ortiz, is a complex, yet extremely beautiful portrayal of how the average person battled the results of the pandemic. The main themes found in the mural are resurgance, growth, connectivity, and freedom, as explained by Aaron: “The central theme is resurgence. The mural expresses my feelings about the spring, and about coming out of COVID, and feeling more open and human, and being more connected to people.” As many people know, the cicada represents “coming out of the shadows” in a sense, which can be perfectly related to how humans had to come out of their own “shadows” after being quarantined in some way for over a year.
The bright colors stemming from the wings of the cicada instantly draw attention to it. As two brown hands hold the cicada, ribbons stem from the cicada reading different phrases that I was able to loosely translate to "Do not sing me songs of love, for I do not want to know what they are” and "Like a rumor that sneaks in, you go asking, 'Will I live?'". The cicada, along with humans during COVID, often experienced thoughts of doubt, depression, and sadness, but as the world progressed through the terrible time, people began to gain some hope. The sun in this mural seems to represent hope, as the cicada is placed on the side of the sun, rather than the moon.
The hands seem to replicate that of a tree, with prominent green leaves in the background and bright red and pink flowers on either side, offering a sense of environmentalism to the mural. The constant use of line in this mural helps the viewer really capture the nature aspects of the mural, as the cicada is released back into nature as we were released back into society. Aaron explains, “The characters in the image represent individuals bringing the best of themselves forward, bringing their internal essences, and giving that to the broader community. The heart as a tree of life is just that: a beating heart as love for the community, growing and blossoming. The flowers and foliage also represent spring and beauty and hope. The sun and the moon represent the passage of time (and since they are on opposite ends of the building, they will track the movement of the sun from east to west).”
Finally, Aaron also decided to incorporate some of his own culture into the mural, as seen by the sun, moon, and most importantly, the cicada. The cicadas “which in Mexico serve as a symbol for singing and living life to the fullest before death”, explained by Johnson-Ortiz, would help explain why he chose such an interesting character to be the main focus of the mural. Aaron also seemed to draw inspiration from the tree of life which can be seen in the hands that hold the cicada.
- Rights
- Artist: Aaron Johnson-Ortiz
Researcher: Ethan Spanier - Source
- “Forecast 2017 Grantee: Aaron Johnson-Ortiz.” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Apr. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=El4Qz5U8FmA.
Johnson-Ortiz, Aaron. “Aaron Johnson-Ortiz.” Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival, Chroma Zone, 2021, www.chromazone.net/aaron-johnson-ortiz.
“The M Launches a National Search for a New Executive Director.” Minnesota Museum of American Art, Minnesota Museum of American Art, 2 Aug. 2021, mmaa.org/mdirectorsearch/.
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Citation
Aaron Johnson-Ortiz
Aaron Johnson-Ortiz is a Mexican American artist based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Aaron originally grew up in Guatemala and in Chiapas, Mexico, but has lived in Minnesota for a majority of his life. Aaron holds a Master in Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Michigan, and his art features themes of labor rights, immigrant rights, and the transnational Latino experience, aiming to bring light to his culture and celebrate what he and his family cherish. Featured in St. Paul’s “Chromazone”, is his mural titled “La Cigarra” (pictured above), which was finished in 2021. His mural “Workers United in Struggle” was named “Best Mural” by City Pages in 2018. Aaron also serves as the Director of Arts & Cultural Engagement at CLUES, where he is the director of the Latino-focused gallery, a folk arts program, a muralism apprenticeship and many community-centered events. One of Aaron’s main hobbies is backpacking the North Shore with his dog.Aaron’s mural, “La Cigarra”, expresses many ideas with a central theme of resurgence. Aaron notes, “The mural expresses my feelings about the spring, and about coming out of COVID, and feeling more open and human, and being more connected to people. The characters in the image represent individuals bringing the best of themselves forward, bringing their internal essences, and giving that to the broader community” (Chromazone). Aaron chose the cicada as a representation of the act of “coming out of the shadows” and enjoying their surroundings. A majority of the mural was influenced by Mexican folk art; the sun and the moon, and the cicadas, which in Mexico serve as a symbol for “singing and living life to the fullest before death” (Chromazone). Another of his notable projects includes the Twin Cities Worker Solidarity Mural, created for Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL), a workers' rights organization. This piece celebrates collective action and workers' struggles, using vibrant visuals to highlight themes of unity and resilience., “La Cigarra,” Museum in the streets: Murals in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, accessed March 10, 2026, https://mspmurals.omeka.net/items/show/48.