Project Description

Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio uses amber as a metaphor for preserving history and elevating workers’ stories in his artwork for the concourse, which will be fabricated in mosaic. Amber is a natural substance that traps and protects historic material for millions of years, and it is a luxury gemstone. While developing his design Aparicio traveled by Metro Bus on the different routes many people currently take to get to work in Century City. He photographed birds, trees and urban landmarks along these journeys. The photographs will appear embedded in amber along with historical materials collected from local workers’ unions to tell and preserve the stories of their struggles for worker rights in Century City during the 1970s, the legacy of which continues to the present day.

Artist Statement

“This project takes the historical associations of amber as a luxury gemstone reserved only for the elite and reinterprets it as a methodology to elevate the working-class peoples of this city. This mural is dedicated to the workers and organizers that continue to work towards equal rights regardless of class, race and gender.”

About the Artist

EDDIE RODOLFO APARICIO (b. 1990, Los Angeles) seeks to expand viewers’ understanding of identity and place-making by forging material connections between pre-Hispanic Central American cultures and contemporary Los Angeles, often through innovative large-scale sculptural creations. Aparicio earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bard College in 2012 and a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University in 2016. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Los Angeles (2023); Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles (2020); Páramo, Guadalajara, Mexico (2019); and The Mistake Room, Los Angeles (2018). Among the awards he has received are the Nancy Graves Foundation Award (2022), the California Community Foundation (CCF) Fellowship for Visual Artists (2016), the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (2014), and the Elizabeth Murray and Sol LeWitt Studio Arts Award from Bard College (2012).