SFX: agricultural soundscape: soft wind in leaves and grass, the clipping of flowers 

RUPERT GARCIA:  

I mean, this is kind of an idealized rendition of something Mexican. 

NARRATOR:  

Artist Rupert Garcia —  

GARCIA: It’s based upon life of Mexico, but it’s been romanticized by Diego Rivera…The light, how it resonates off of the flowers and straw hats and these earth tones.  

 
SFX: Strumming of guitar, sentimental 

NARRATOR:  

Diego Rivera was defined by his love of Mexico. Even though he was a world-famous artist, he identified most with common workers and peasant farmers, like this bent-over campesino. Most days he could be found in a pair of overalls and a beaten-up hat. 

AMALIA MESA-BAINS:  

So he would go out in the truck in the morning  

NARRATOR:  

Artist Amalia Mesa-Bains– 

MESA-BAINS:

and he would do tons of these sketches of the people in the fields working or the flower vendors,  

NARRATOR:  

You know how we can’t see the faces of these two characters very well? That was kind of the point. Rivera wasn’t painting a specific person, he was celebrating a way of life.  

GARCIA:  

I think it’s about the dignity of being a flower carrier, or a flower vendor. 

SFX: Guitar fades