Photo Gallery: Artist Uses Mural Art On Hemphill As Way Of Leaving Mark On Community

Arlington TX

15 November, 2021

7:03 PM

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By Cristian ArguetaSoto, Fort Worth Report November 15, 2021 Muralist Juan Velazquez, 32, did basic training in 2018 at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, at the same time as Vanessa Guillen, a woman who was reported missing from Fort Hood near Killeen in April 2020 and later found dead. He felt obligated to paint a mural in her honor. "I didn't know her, but a friend of mine sent me our battalion photo, and she was there," Velazquez said. "I'm actually friends with her mom on Facebook. That's one of the reasons I painted that because I'm in the military." Velazquez has about 75 murals around the metroplex. He was born in Mexico, then moved to El Paso then Houston, where he went to elementary school. He then moved to Watauga for middle school, high school and college at Tarrant County College. He now lives in the Riverside neighborhood. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.