Vibrant stripes of orange, pink and yellow cover the long hallway on the first floor of the Dallas Museum of Art. A disco ball sparkles from above and the faint sound of music fills the air.

California-based artist Guadalupe Rosales’ installation, titled “Drifting on a Memory,” is a celebration of Los Angeles lowrider and cruiser culture. This is the artist’s first mural project, which was created with the help of Dallas artist Lokey Calderon and Fort Worth artist Sarah Ayala. But, Rosales is no stranger to cruising.

His Instagram projects, “Veteranas and Rucas” and “Map Pointz,” archive photos and stories from Southern California’s Latino and Chicano communities, especially young people. She has collaborated with “New Yorker Magazine” and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and she was just named one of the participating artists at this year’s Whitney Biennial in New York.

Rosales spoke to KERA about capturing the joys of cruising at its Dallas facility, which will be in place until July 10, 2022.

On the Los Angeles cruise scene of the 90s

I grew up in East LA, and my house faced Whittier Boulevard, which is like our place to flirt, socialize, meet people, and just have a good time.

Cruising didn’t start for me until I was 13 or 14, and that’s when my friends or family started fixing their own cars. It was in the 90s when I was exposed to lowriders and all that.

You know, teenagers were really into new cars like Hondas, sports cars, Acuras. So it wasn’t just the classic cars that were rolling. There were also other parts of LA, like South LA and Hollywood, where other communities were also embracing lowriding and cruising. In some ways it has become a very diverse community.

On collaborating with local artists

When I was asked to paint a mural in the space and after touring the site, I loved how it’s like this long hallway. It is 153 feet long. It kind of made me think about how memory works almost like this void.

It was really important for me to work with a local artist, Lokey Calderon. He brought his skills because he does pinstriping on lowriders, and he called on Sarah Ayala, who helped us with this project.

We brought the same energy that I like to bring when I post or talk to the community via Instagram. We start sharing stories and connecting. It almost felt like a ritual.

On the criminalization of cruising in LA

The city started putting up signs on Whittier Boulevard, and you can still see them now. They say “no cruise”. It was a way of criminalizing the community. You know, this archive project, we share stories, what it does is we start to unlearn that and make connections.

For example, a friend of mine was killed by the police around 1998. On Instagram maybe a year ago I posted a picture of him and talked about police brutality. Many of his friends stepped forward and started sharing. They shared their stories and memories of that day. It’s almost like we’re empowering ourselves and empowering ourselves to express ourselves and share our stories.

On brotherhood in the cruise scene

My memory goes out with all the girls and also with my sister because we are only 10 months apart. She and I were sneaking out of the house and going on a cruise. It wasn’t always safe. That’s why we had to ride really hard with five or six girls or probably more at a time. We just had each other’s backs. I thought we were just hanging out with friends. But then we realized we were creating something new and different out of the chaos.

Guadalupe Rosales: Drifting on a Memory is on view at the Dallas Museum of Art through July 10.

Do you have any advice? Email Miguel Perez at [email protected] You can follow him on Twitter @quillindie.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find these reports helpful, consider making a tax-deductible donation today. Thank you.