The Art RiNo mural festival in September 2022 saw many impeccable creations, but one in particular stands out: the collaboration by street-art fixtures Jaime Molina, Jher and Jodie Herrera to honor the late artist and activist Alicia Cardenas, who was one of the first victims killed during the horrific series of shootings at tattoo shops and other locations around Denver on December 27, 2021. Herrera spearheaded the photorealist portrait of a beaming Cardenas, Molina created the abstract lettering spelling "matriarch," and Jher, a close friend of Cardenas's for decades, painted the marigolds and monarch butterflies, symbols of Cardenas's Chicano heritage and of the soul finding its way home. The painting stands next to a mural painted by Cardenas herself.
Intersection of Larimer and 27th streets