The Hunger HAs No Color
by John Acosta, Richard Schletty, and Armando Gutiérrez G

About the Mural

The "Hunger Has No Color" mural was created in 1985 by the artists John Acosta, Richard Schletty, and Armando Gutiérrez G. This mural is located in St. Paul on the South wall of Captain Ken’s Foods building, at 107 East Colorado Street, at the intersection of So. Robert Street, on Saint Paul's "West Side." 

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The purpose of creating this mural was to promote the food shelf at the Neighborhood House and raise people's awareness of the issue of hunger. The artists display people from different nationalities working together to eliminate hunger. This mural is composed of the neighbors, friends, and people who passed by. They were used as models to symbolize the neighborhood's different cultures and nationalities. This is an artistic style used in the old tradition of Renaissance artists who placed community members and visitors into their paintings. 

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The representation of color is very interesting. The artists decided not to use vibrant colors even though it is more common for many murals. They used dark brown and white paint to create a grayscale effect, giving the mural a more gloomy tone to represent the importance of raising awareness for the issue of hunger in their community. This choice also creates a sense of unity and focuses the attention on the figures and their interactions. The overall color palette is limited but the artists use contrasting tones within the muted scale to highlight attention to certain areas. For example, the lighter tones on the faces and hands create a sense of warmth and humanity. Also, the use of this color palette contributes to the overall atmosphere of the mural, which gives the audience a sense of nostalgia or contemplation to think about the underlying issue of hunger that is affecting their community. 

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There are also some symbols present in the work, for example there are empty bowls and the faces of the people in the mural have miserable expressions. These can represent the literal lack of food in the bowls, but also the emotion of emptiness and despair. The faces of the people in the painting show the true impact that hunger has on their bodies and mental health. 

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The mural explores the issues that the community faced, and still struggles with, to light and therefore we are able to raise awareness. This awareness can spark the conversation, or discourse, that is essential to help those in need. The message of the mural is clear as the title, "Hunger Has No Color," suggests that hunger is an issue that impacts people universally regardless of their ethnicity or race.

As stated by Michel Foucault in the book Studying Culture: A Practical Introduction, "Knowledge is produced through discourse…. Power produces knowledge" (M. Foucault, 72) Representation influences our cultural, societal norms, beliefs, and values. By increasing the representation of our struggling communities and sharing this message, it invites those in our city to not only learn more about the issue, but to also look past their superficial differences among those in our community and work together to make changes.

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While the work was originally painted in 1985 it needed to be restored. This was necessary to preserve and continue the legacy of the important message. The artist's representation of people that come from different backgrounds allows everyone to be united in the fight and recognize the shared responsibility we have to each other.

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Works Cited: 

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Foucault, Michel. Studying Culture: A Practical Introduction. Edited by Helen Woodward, Oxford University Press, 2020, p. 72.