PULLMAN, Wash. — The dedication of Transformación y Evolución (Transformation and Evolution), a mural commissioned by the Washington State University Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies, has been set for 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16 in the CES lounge, room 112 in Wilson Hall.
The painting is a 10 ft. by 4 ft. oil-on-wood piece by Mexican artist Francisco Javier Bataz. “Pictures often do speak louder than words,” said Yolanda Flores-Nieman, director of CES at WSU. “This panning says a great deal about our transformation from violence to scholar, and it gives people a good idea about the philosophy of CES and the role of education globally.”
“One of man’s greatest achievements has been the process of evolution through education and man’s own ability,” Bataz said in a statement about the piece. He calls the mural a minute overview of the evolutionary facets of mankind and refers to the geometric and abstract forms in the painting as representations of ideas, people and projects coming together.
“There’s more to evolution than biology,” he said. “Mankind’s greatest fortune has been the evolutionary process that has allowed us, through education, talent, improved communications and all kinds of technological advancements, to place hope in something other than conquests accomplished through sheer force and oppression.”
Bataz, a visiting scholar at WSU Tri-Cities, is a professor of art at the Casa de Cultura José Vasconcelos, a cultural arts center in
