AUSTIN, Texas — It'd be easy to miss driving on Rosewood Avenue in East Austin.
"You probably just see big colorful pillars, but you probably need to get off and inspect every pillar to see what it means and what it's talking about," said Armando Martinez while standing in the Boggy Creek Greenbelt underneath North Pleasant Valley Road.
Every painted pillar tells a story, stories of people like Gilbert Rivera and his wife, Jane.
"What I see is a real deep and heartwarming story about our family," said Gilbert Rivera. "Some of the images you see, there is myself, my wife, Jane, my father and mother, who have both passed away. And you see depictions of cucumber leaves, the purple leaves that are there from the time that we were migrant workers."
Gilbert Rivera was born on the east side of Austin and has lived his whole life there.
"We always told people there are two cities, Austin, Texas, and East Austin, Texas – two different cities totally," he added.
His story is one of many remembered through this public art project.
"That came straight from the community. It's what they asked for," explained Kathleen Barron.
Barron is with Austin Parks Foundation. It and other organizations made the Pillar Project possible to elevate east side artists.
"There are not that many opportunities for East Austin artists to be represented in the part of town they have lived experience," said Barron.
"This is the original photo that is taken by the journalist in '88," said Ruben Esquivel, a local artist.
Esquivel took a picture of Gilbert Rivera and made it art. Gilbert Rivera is a man some call a pillar of the community, but Esquivel calls him family.
"It's just so special that [it was] me, his nephew, who was selected to paint it, because anyone could have done it, but the fact I did it makes it super special," he said. "Even looking at it now, I can't believe that I painted that. It's wild."
The project is currently up to 14 pillars. The 15th will be finished in January. The Austin Parks Foundation is hoping to eventually paint all 39 pillars in the green space underneath North Pleasant Valley Road.
It's special for those sharing their stories, and also the artists.
"Knowing it's going to be here for decades to come even longer than me, it's super special knowing my family's mark is going be here for a very long time," said Esquivel.
"The artists that are doing all of this are writing down our history through art, and if you look at each one of these pillars, each one of them tells a story, and those stories need to be told need to be shown. And hopefully more pillars will go up and more stories are documented," said Gilbert Rivera.
It's all part of a public art project representing pillars of the community, painted on these pillars.
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