This post is about murals and public art I’ve seen while cycling here in Albuquerque, much of it discovered while simply out for a ride. New Mexico is renowned for natural landscapes, and also for our cultural places. Murals unite the two. Visit Albuquerque‘s motto is “change your perspective”. What better way to shift our view than to hop on a bike and go for a ride? We see more at cycling pace, out in the open air under wondrous skies.

“What if there’s a way that we can end up thinking and feeling and knowing that we are coming from nature, that we’re a part of nature, instead of just thinking: What can we use it for?” – Yo-Yo Ma, Our Common Nature, NYTimes

I met the muralist Dimitri Kadiev at Michael Thomas Coffee on Carlisle. He’s pictured below. Dimitri was painting his mural and stopped to talk with me. Bikes are so easy to park! I can get off and walk around and explore in detail when I find something I like.

Dimitri’s art evokes a story, but talking to him was truly enchanting. He has a way of creating landscapes with his stories. He doesn’t own a home, rather travels and lives where he works, often times housed by the client commissioning his art. I learned a lot from him about geographies, landmarks, and walking journeys that connect places together through meaningful human movement, and people encountered on the way.

This mural is on Silver Ave in the Nob Hill neighborhood in Albuquerque. Yo-Yo Ma played a series of concerts in national parks, at the Grand Canyon, Mammoth Cave, etc. to set his music in outdoor, natural environments. I feel lucky that my cycling activity takes place in the great outdoors on every ride.

“Lately, I have realized, that the time I spend in nature, brings me back to something much bigger than myself. It brings me to wonder.” –Yo-Yo Ma, Our Common Nature, on Amanpour and Company

Murals give a kind of visual narrative, a picture story, that tells of our place in the land. This one is on Kei and Molly’s textile shop. The landscape feels more familiar when I see art representing us in this way.

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is graced with this wintry scene. Our travelways are a kind of social fabric if we tune into the art connecting us with these stories. “This is medicine hiding in plain sight” as the surgeon general Vivek Murthy says on the importance of social connection to our health and well-being.

A cinder block wall near Garfield Middle School. A pleasant surprise on a day when I was exploring on bike and was basically lost. Inspiring to see.

Part of the new Vision Zero mural on Louisiana. ( https://www.artful-life.org/vision-zero-mural )

This one is near a busy road, Lomas and 11th St NW. I was so focused on checking traffic I almost missed this on a side street. It is on the wall of Debajo Tapas Y Vino.

This may not be a mural so to speak, rather it is an advertisement for the Albuquerque Museum exhibit. But it reminded me of how the bike was key to my ‘journey west’, and in particular, finally arriving here! After having traveled through and visited a few times before.

I’m not going to say any more, but may be you can find the rest yourself! And discover more that I haven’t seen. Wishing you happy trails and fun discoveries!

Resources:
Some of Dimitri Kadiev’s Albuquerque murals are featured here: https://compassroses.art/murals-by-dimitri-kadiev/