MESA, AZ — A new mural went up in Mesa Monday morning to promote getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Facebook commissioned Latina artist Yocelyn Riojas to design it. Riojas is based in New Mexico and focuses her art on social issues close to her heart and her heritage.
Her design for the mural includes a family getting together - some with masks and bandaids from vaccinations – to cook tamales and have a reunion. It reads, “Protect Your Familia, Juntos We Can Stop COVID-19.”
Facebook teamed up with nonprofit design lab Amplifier and nine cities across the country, including Mesa, to find artists like Riojas for the task.
They also commissioned Arizona-based graphic and fashion designer Jared Yazzie to create a mural with a similar theme in Los Angeles. His artwork, inspired by his family members and Navajo heritage, will also be on posters throughout the Mesa area as well.
Riojas’ mural has a QR code on the bottom-right corner that brings people to Facebook’s COVID-19 Vaccination Information Center by pointing their phone cameras at it.
Facebook representatives said her mural will stay up in Mesa through at least the fall when virus infection rates tend to go up.
