The city of West Jordan unveiled a new water tank mural, “Vida Del Valle” on Aug. 26. Salt Lake Community College commissioned the mural in partnership with West Jordan to increase public art throughout the city.
West Jordan Mayor Dirk Burton attended the unveiling and talked about the water tank’s theme, “Vida Del Valle” which means “Life of the Valley.” He said the mural reflects how water is essential for life and why it is necessary to protect the water rights in our communities in Utah.
Muralist and SLCC graduate, Beto Conejo, talked about the importance of art.
“Sometimes it feels like we have so many canvases as a city, which to me means opportunities to be able to inspire people, educate people and support people,” he said. “These are all things that art can do. Essentially, we fall short in being able to do those things, because we don’t take action on painting them; because we don’t have conversations about the art.”
The mural centers a young Indigenous girl weaving a tapestry to represent society and life being woven together in harmony. She carries a backpack filled with flowers and books.
“I wanted it to be specifically a young brown Indigenous girl, because my family has a lot of Indigenous roots and we are really underrepresented in education, and the arts,” said Conejo, who added the girl resembles his younger cousins.
“I wanted to make sure that they get to see themselves represented on the big stage, as big as I could get it,” he said. “It was very important to get the symbolism of the books in there with her because I want them to start thinking about going to college, it is a goal of mine to help them start imagining themselves having access to college …”
“Vida Del Valle” is located at 3465 W. 9000 S. in West Jordan. The mural is visible from 9000 S. as well as from the road that leads into the West Jordan campus.
