ABSTRACT
On the north entrance to the city of Esmeraldas, in northwest Ecuador, used to be a three-part mural with the message “ Don’t contaminate your home, don’t contaminate your future ” ( Figure 6.1 ). Painted in July 2012 by Magni Lajones Araujo, an Esmeraldeño artist and teacher, the mural was a resident’s view of everyday environmental pollution in Esmeraldas: smoke from the local state-owned refi nery (the largest and most important in Ecuador), the haziness of traffi c pollution, deforested landscapes, and abundant garbage and human waste on land and rivers. In the foreground stands an Afro-descendent man, facing forward with tears rolling down his face. In the background, the emblematic green rolling hills that bound the west side of the city, also in a blurred, smoky form. And fl owing from behind the man is the Esmeraldas River, which fl anks the east side of the city, its waters transporting oil and garbage. In between the man and the hills is a blue bus transporting the tiny silhouettes of refi nery workers, and the simple outline of a grey refi nery spewing grey-colored fumes from a tall chimney into the blue sky. The sharp, black outline of the silhouettes and bus stand out against the weeping man and the hills, as if independent of the hazy Esmeraldas. On the front of the bus reads the word “boss.” In early February 2014, in the midst of local elections, the mural was completely painted over with campaign slogans for regional elections.
