Cesar E. Viveros-Herrera is an artist born in Veracruz, Mexico. With more than 25 years of experience creating public art in the United States and Mexico, he has been collaborating with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program since 2000. His public work is inspired by the communities he has worked with, and Cesar visually interprets their particular ideology, primarily focusing on documentary work that helps him visually translate these individual stories to be exposed to a broader audience.
At the State Correctional Institution at Graterford Prison, he led the creation of the 2003-2004 "Healing Wall" murals, which were documented in the film "Concrete, Steel, and Paint" by Tony Heryza. This project opened the doors to many other art programs in the Philadelphia Prison and Family Court systems and the Youth Study Center. The "Kids and Cops" series of murals brought together traditionally polarized groups for conversation while creating meaningful art on police stations. A massive mural unveiled at Maria de los Santos Health Care Center was dedicated to addressing the influence of stigma on mental health.
In 2005, he created the first public mural in Philadelphia that recognized the Mexican migration in the city, adding a visual component to the newly mobilized Mexicans who were simultaneously working to defend their rights in the United States and helping to bring about political change in Mexico.
He believes that the history of America is made up of small town stories that can be proudly told when individuals are given the opportunity to express them in public settings. This belief is reflected in the series of murals in the 2012-2013 "Imagining Frankford" project, where dozens of interviews that Viveros recorded were used to further communicate the ideas championed by the mural project.
In Camden, NJ, Viveros has spent more than a decade ensuring that the positive side of the story is told in a city once labeled as the most dangerous in the country.
Recently, he was awarded the opportunity to lead the creation of a mural to welcome the millions of people coming to the World Meeting Of Families and Pope Francis in Philadelphia in 2015.
When exhibiting his "personal" work, Cesar likes to do so in public settings. Here, people interested in syncretism studies, Mexican immigrants seeking to reconnect with their origins, researchers of vanishing cultural heritage, Hispanic people curious about typical Mexican ancient celebrations that may differ from those in other countries, or the general public interested in celebrations that define cultures can find a source of firsthand experience on pre-Columbian and "mestizaje" periods seen through the eyes of an indigenous artist.
Food justice workshops, sweat lodge ritual practices, Aztec dances and ceremonies, large-scale as well as miniature altars for Day of the Dead celebrations, sculptures and reliefs, fresco painting, mosaic, and featherwork are some of the signature elements of his work outside of murals.