Martha Ramirez-Oropeza

Martha Ramirez–Oropeza (born 1952) is a Mexican muralist, painter, theater performer, and researcher known for her work on the pre-Hispanic Nahuatl culture.

Early life and education Martha Ramirez-Oropeza was born in Delicias, Chihuahua, Mexico and her parents were migrant farmworkers. Due to this, she continuously traveled from Delicias to Colusa, California. She worked with her family in the fields picking prunes at a young age. Her family eventually settled down in Pacoima which is a neighborhood in Los Angeles. She experienced discrimination by a teacher that washed her mouth with soap after speaking Spanish when she was in second grade. These experiences then lead her to partake in the Chicano Movement, a hunger strike for the United Farmworkers Union, creating anti-war posters, and planning and paintings murals.

Ramirez-Oropeza pursued an education at California State University, Northridge. She has been a coordinator for the university and was a professor teaching Nahuatl philosophy for 13 years.

She is considered an expert on the Day of the Dead ritual because she has dedicated many years to research about it, despite not growing up with the tradition.

She is also a performing arts teacher at Edison Language Elementary. "Atzalan-Topialitzi" Mural at the University of Oregon Martha painted the mural in 1989 after being reached out by MEChA members from the University of Oregon. "Holding on to our Roots" Painting. "Tlazolteotl: Creative Force of the Un-Woven" Mural by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza & Patricia Quijano. The mural was part of "The World Wall: A Vision of the World Without Fear" event in Mexico. Martha Ramirez-Oropeza collaborated with Patricia Quijano on this mural which was part of an event that Judith Baca invited them to, organized by SPARC. This exhibit is a travel installation mural and both artists painted the mural in 1999, but it was revealed in 2001. The inspiration for the mural was mother earth, because she regenerates and heals everything and everyone. Both artists wrote a poem after finishing the mural that reflected their feelings about it.