Rooted in Love & Grandma’s Garden

Rooted in Love and Grandma’s Garden, by San Antonio artist Kat Cadena, will be located inside the soon-to-be open Greater Love Multi-Generational Cultural Community Center.

Rooted in Love honors and celebrates children. The mural emphasizes the importance of providing them with love and security. It features a grandparent embracing a parent, who cradles a young child. This warm embrace reminds the viewer of the invaluable gifts of love, time, and family. It honors the preciousness of children and reminds us to listen to and protect them. Safe and supportive connections within families and communities nurture confident, imaginative individuals. With love and support, all children can grow up positively contributing to the world around them.

Cadena invited San Antonio Poet Laureate (2021-2023), Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, to provide in-mural text for Rooted in Love. Sanderson provided the words: “Communities rooted in love enrich future generations.” These words serve as a reminder of the importance of intergenerational connections. The three-generation family surrounded by larger-than-life flowers embodies Sanderson’s message. The purple coneflowers (echinacea) featured in this mural are local and native to San Antonio. These flowers provide food and shelter for bees, butterflies, and songbirds. They also have medicinal uses. The mural serves as a celebration of the community that the Greater Love Multi-Generational Cultural Community Center will serve.

In Grandma’s Garden two elders pass on knowledge to children through the cultivation of important plants. In this act, they build a bond, and the children learn life skills in a supportive environment. This creates a beautiful, lush landscape for their community. They care for plants that can help them care for each other in return. Receiving knowledge from elders can be a chance to convene with ancestors as stories are passed down through generations. In this artwork, the artist honors relationships like the one she has with her grandmother. The grandmother figure shares knowledge and surrounds the child with love and support as the child learns.

On the right, a grandfather guides a young child in caring for the plants around them. These plants include the purple coneflower (echinacea), Mexican marigold (cempasúchil), and the prickly pear cactus (nopal). They surround the families, growing larger than life from their care. The Mexican marigold is used in altars to honor ancestors and the prickly pear cactus can be consumed for food or used for its medicinal properties. These are plants that are common in and near Texas. With the help of elders and teachers, children can learn to grow and use local plants in this region to care for their communities, too.

Note: Images shown are artist rendering, actual photos to come soon.