Skirball Cultural Center presents “The 1960s — A Generation on Fire: Judy Baca’s Great Wall of Los Angeles”
The exhibition shares two new sections of the public art mural on view for the first time, featuring moments from an era of collective action that still resonates today.
One of California’s most culturally significant landmarks comes to the Skirball with the opening of The 1960s — A Generation on Fire: Judy Baca's Great Wall of Los Angeles featuring new, monumental murals that approach history as a living, contested, and shared narrative in which we all take part.
In 1974, Judy Baca conceived of the Great Wall as a monument to the people of California, featuring a visual history of ethnic peoples from prehistoric times to the 1950s. Soon after in 1976, Baca co-founded the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) and together with 400 young people working alongside artists, historians, and community members, collaborated to paint the first section of the half-mile mural on the LA River. Since then, Baca and SPARC have been working to extend the mural beyond the 1950s to present day.
Within this exhibition, viewers can observe how the decade was shaped by the moral courage, peaceful protests, and cultural awakening of the Civil Rights Movement and the “generation on fire” who led the way. Visitors will also see recently completed mural sections focused on the 1960s that will soon be added to the existing mural.
The murals are presented alongside preparatory drawings and color studies; an immersive video installation that brings visitors to the banks of the LA River at the Tujunga Wash, the ultimate site for the murals; as well as an interactive component called MuralMemoirs where visitors can share their own histories.
The 1960s — A Generation on Fire: Judy Baca’s Great Wall of Los Angeles is on view at the Skirball, where individual sections will be revealed throughout the exhibition run from October to December 2026 and January to February 2027.
Learn more at skirball.org.
