In 2020 a developer was waiting for his turn for city council approval for his development. He had a long wait. Over 50 members of the Filipino community of Watsonville were there to receive the formal apology from the city for the race riots that had occurred in the 1930s. They were there to share their stories of generational trauma and continued financial inequities resulting from the riots. Their stories moved the developer to turn to his project manager and declare that they would be adding public art to their development to honor the Watsonville Filipino community.

Our nonprofit organization, Community Arts and Empowerment, was contacted and asked to spearhead the process of a community-generated mosaic mural. We were provided with a photograph of Rosie Tabassa and her son Jesse, a matriarch of the Filipino community from the 1930s. We paid a stipend to four Filipino artists to create designs based on this photograph. Then we invited the Filipino community to come for a catered Filipino meal and Community celebration where they shared stories and voted for the artwork they preferred.

We were overjoyed that they chose the work of Caitlin Bayaca, one of our 18-year-old interns. Caitlin became an assistant project manager for the project, choosing colors and directing the 40 volunteers in the size, shape, and placement of tesserae.

The 10 ft by 30 ft mural was completed in 2023 and is located on the new low-income family housing project for Farm Workers in Watsonville, California. The mural was created using landfill-diverted high-fire ceramic tile seconds from our local tile factory.