California Story Fund
A New Image:
Youth-Led Community Mural and Video Project
Rural Action of Knights Landing
Project Director: Alyssa Nelson
Young people create a mural about their town
Knights Landing, a town of 1,500 residents on the Sacramento river, once was a thriving agriculture center with a bank, a hardware store and a pharmacy. Today, the town is struggling, with just a couple of gas stations, three minimarts and a Mexican restaurant.
Young people of Knights Landing told their stories and those of the community through a new mural. The mural was based on the youths’ own experiences and from what the youths learned from surveying almost every person in the town after a previous mural was vandalized.
Local historian Shipley Walters taught the youths about the town’s history and introduce them to “old timers” who contributed to a book she wrote about the town. The youths also worked with Malaquias Montoya, professor of art and Chicano Studies at UC Davis who specializes in community murals. The whole process of the mural making was captured on videotape.
“The town’s general plan calls for the population to double by 2015 and everyone agrees that Knights Landing is on the verge of substantial change,” said Project Director Alyssa Nelson. “This project helped preserve the history of the town.”