Manual 3: Hope Sigil

Manual 3: Hope Sigil is a mural designed by José Ortiz-Pagán and painted by Emily White. The mural was created by and for the surrounding Kensington neighborhood. Ortiz-Pagán met with a dozen community members from Kensington over the course of three months, who were paid for their time. They met to discuss their hopes for the neighborhood, and co-created an idea for a procession focused on hope. Members contributed to visual and physical elements, including banners, vests, t-shirts, chants and dances. The community members met a few months after the event to reflect on what happened. Based on these discussions and inspired by their memories, Jose created this sigil to act as a form of protection for the neighborhood.

Ortiz-Pagán describes the mural in his artist statement:

The mural showcases a sigil specifically crafted for the Kensington community. Sigils are commonly employed to magnify intentions and desires. Practitioners devise a unique symbol encapsulating their goals, desires, or intentions. The process of creating the sigil and meditating on its significance is believed to infuse it with energy, thereby increasing the likelihood of the desired outcome. In this particular instance, I created a sigil based on my interactions with a group of Kensington neighbors spanning over four months. The objective of this community-based art project was to design a performance as an expression of hope, rooted in the inquiries and explorations I facilitated, but always guided by the group’s needs, realities, and interests. Following this performance, which took place on May 10, 2023, I fashioned a sigil with the aim of amplifying the intentions of both the group and the community at large. The sigil incorporates information derived from the designs, mottos, goals, values, and more that the group collectively developed under my guidance. It also integrates elements from the performative attire I created for the event, as well as indigenous plants and locally significant symbols with healing properties. The sigil is bilingual, featuring both Spanish and English, reflecting the diverse range of languages spoken in the area.