KarunaNews Story

The 21 murals tower over the landscape in Uvalde, Texas, telling the stories of the 19 children and two teachers killed in the horrific 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Artist Abel Ortiz spearheaded the Healing Uvalde Mural Project, partnering with Monica Maldonado of Austin’s MAS Cultura to bring 50 Texan artists to Uvalde to paint the murals, all volunteering their time. The murals aim to provide healing for the families and community by remembering the lives taken while also bearing witness to the gun violence that, two years later, has continued across the nation. “If there’s any art that I wish didn’t exist, [it] is this art, because that means the kids would be alive,” says Ortiz.