Angelus News | April 8, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 7

Promotional image for the “Guadalupe: Holy Art in the Streets of Los Angeles” event at the USC Fisher Museum of Art.
The queen of LA’s streets
A special event at USC studies how Our Lady of
Guadalupe captured a city’s imagination.
BY FATHER DORIAN LLYWELYN, SJ
St. Ignatius of Loyola urged people
to “seek and find God’s will
in everything.” That means being
open to surprise as God reveals himself
in unsuspected places and ways.
About 15 hours of my work week is
spent behind the wheel, as I travel
from appointment to appointment.
As I drive, I take in the fabric of our
city, and often find myself praying
spontaneously. It’s not only the Instagram-worthy
sunsets over the Pacific
or snow capping the San Gabriel
Mountains where I recognize God.
In fact, God tends to show himself to
me more in glimpses of unexpected
beauty in the grittier parts and harsher
realities of our city.
The street art of Los Angeles is one
such place where God can be found.
In his beautiful photo book, “The
Virgin of the American Dream: Guadalupe
on the Walls of Los Angeles”
Sam Quinones. | SAMQUINONES.COM
(39 West Press, $25), journalist Sam
Quinones documents the ubiquitous
presence of Our Lady of Guadalupe
in our urban landscape.
The ancient Christian city of Constantinople
was so full of images of
the Virgin Mary that its inhabitants
thought of it as “Theotokoupolis” —
the City of the Mother of God. It’s
not too fanciful to suggest that it’s the
virgin’s presence — on the walls of
launderettes, corner stores, gyms, and
auto-repair shops — that makes LA
into the City of Nuestra Señora de
Guadalupe.
The abiding presence of the “La
Morenita” is, however, part of
something larger — the Catholic
imagination at play on the streets of
our city and region. When Catholic
imagery — the Sacred Heart, crucifixes,
the rosary — shows up not only
in churches, schools, and homes, but
in public places (many of them in
grittier areas), it opens a window into
the abiding presence of God among
his people.
Often those windows to heaven open
up in unexpected places.
Behind a nondescript storefront on a
28 • ANGELUS • April 8, 2022