Mural helps grieving families find community, catharsis

With each stroke of his paintbrush, Ryan Saavedra turns grief into art.

His focus, a 1,200-square foot mural on the wall of the Wheels Museum.

The goal of the mural is for families of victims of violent crimes to find catharsis. Saavedra lost his son, Ryan Saavedra Jr., to gun violence four years ago and has since used painting as a way to heal. Now he wants to pass that on.

“I take them out of their element, out of their depression, out of their house,” Saavedra said. “And I bring them here, and I make them feel good.”

Amanda Recio, who lost her son Martin Recio Jr. in 2017, is one of the 10 families joining Saavedra in painting the mural. Recio said she has found it beneficial working with Ryan and his wife, Danielle. Painting the mural acts as a memorial, keeping her son’s memory alive.

“It’s helped with the healing process since I’ve lost my son eight years ago,” Recio said. “And keeping close to Danielle and Ryan, it’s also helpful because our sons were friends, and doing this together really does help to bring this healing to us.”

LaShanna Villanueva, who paints in honor of her late son, Isaiah Villanueva, has also found healing.

“When I paint sometimes, I’m thinking, oh gosh, Isaiah, I hope you’re watching us and seeing everything we’re doing in memory of you,” Villanueva said.

“Just like any other parent or family that’s there, they don’t want their child to be forgotten. So when we do go, we bring pictures of our child and we put them there to honor them and to feel a part of them.”

The families have memorials set up near the sections of the mural they are painting in. Their losses help them find connection and community with each other.

“We’ve been able to kind of encourage each other and just kind of lift each other up and always trying to keep each other remaining positive despite the ugliness of losing our children and our kids,” Recio said.

Saavedra said focusing on creating and planning the mural had helped him deal with his own grief.

“It helps me to take me out of my element by focusing on something that’s going to leave a mark,” Saavedra said. “Not only for myself, but for the city, because it’s so big and so impactful, being that it’s a history lesson.”

The mural, which depicts the business history of New Mexico, goes beyond the history of Albuquerque, creating positivity in dark times, Villanueva said.

“It’s not just painting, not just being a part of it, but of course, being there with each other, supporting each other to bring something positive out of it,” Villanueva said. “To have that light shine through our children, because in a way it’s a part of them too, because we’re doing it in honor of them.”

While property crime has seen large decreases over the past decade, violent crime has proven particularly stubborn.

Data provided by the Albuquerque Police Department showed that in 2024 violent crime rose by less than a percentage point while property crime dropped by 2%.

The data shows a continued leveling off of property crime after double-digit decreases from 2018 to 2020. Meanwhile, violent crime has continued to go up and down marginally.

The families can be found mainly painting on weekends, depending on weather, according to Saavdera.

The mural the group is painting depicts the history of businesses in Albuquerque from 1889 to 1960, including the first postal office and the first tailor shop.

“It’s not something that happens in a timeline period,” Saavedra said. “I went and I picked certain businesses, certain structures, that are from back east that came in and started their first businesses here.”

Saavedra selected businesses using historic archive photos.

Villanueva grew up in Albuquerque and said that seeing the history makes her reflect on her time in the city.

“It just makes you think back, like, gosh, what was it like back in that day?” Villanueva said. “And just even Albuquerque, thinking about it when I was younger, I’m like, gosh, it used to be so different. Like, what has changed? What needs to happen?”

At the end of the day, the families are painting to help one another, cope with their grief, and remember their children.

“We just do it in memory of our children,” Villanueva said. “I do it in memory of my son, Isaiah.”

For Recio, the thought of her son is what keeps her painting and turning the loss, hurt and pain into something greater, she said.

“I know my son would be very grateful … I could just picture him really happy to see us there and representing this type of healing in such a way,” Recio said. “I know he definitely wouldn’t want us to be a mess and be broken, and I know he would want us to be able to just keep moving forward.”

Mural helps grieving families find community, catharsis