OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Daniel Castaneda is bringing year-round color to the South 24th Street corridor.
The artist, known as Sedra, didn’t always do his work on a legal canvas.
“Yeah, I was doing graffiti, vandalizing at that time in Mexico City against the government, because we want better education and we don’t have art space like we have here,” he said.
Sedra has grown from vandalism as a teenager to an artist today. He’s created more than a half-dozen murals around the metro.
“It’s different than thinking of gods like in Greek mythology or other civilizations,” he said. “We’re thinking more about the energy of things, the essence of it.”
Sedra is working with David Manzanares on this project. The motivation here is to create images of the Aztec culture.
“(It’s) not only for the Mayans and the Aztecs,” Castaneda said. “Most of the civilizations in South America, we share the same gods.”
The duo is doing much more than painting a mural — they’re also educating young people in the area about their culture and on how to make positive art.
“The kids I taught when I was in my 20s, they were little kids, and now they’re doing good things like graffiti in a good way, festivals and commissions for the city to paint buildings that have been vandalized,” Castaneda said. “So if you want to paint, you come and paint and do something nice for the neighborhood.”
The artists enjoy painting murals — they call them free galleries for the people.
“You need to know people to get invited to the artist gallery to see art,” he said. “But murals are for all the people. That’s why I like murals, that’s why I like painting in public. It’s fine if nobody knows my name, but everyone can know my painting.”
The South Omaha Mural Project is supported by the Nebraska Arts Council and a number of grants and gifts from the community.
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