Luis Manuel Arguello-Inglis was 19 when his life was taken early last month at Dolores Park. Soon after, friends put up a memorial near a bench where he often liked to hang out with loved ones.
Now, Arguello-Inglis has been honored in a mural that family and friends are painting at the intersection of 24th and Folsom streets outside of Kora Mariscos, a restaurant owned by his girlfriend’s family.
“We’re creating a safe space and a sanctuary for our brother,” said Kalani Cecaci, a friend of Arguello-Inglis’ sister, Natalia, and one of the artists working on the piece. “I’m honored to be able to paint this for my little brother and take care of my family. This is the only way I know how to give back.”
The mural covers a wall on the east side of Folsom. The work is divided into two images, a large, older version of Arguello-Inglis wearing a black beanie in the center of an Aztec calendar. Nearby, is the young Arguello-Inglis sitting on the bench where friends created a memorial.
“We wanted his portrait and we wanted his altar, so the rest of it we just came up with over the last few days. Just seeing what we liked,” said Cecaci. “It just kind of developed very organically.”
On a recent Tuesday evening, people drank beer and ate snacks while they painted, with music in the background, like Peso Pluma and MF Doom. Volunteers helped the artists with some of the final touches. They laughed, hugged, goofed around and cried on each other’s shoulders as they took a step back and saw their friend’s face looking down at them.
“He’s laughing with us doing dumb stuff. I know he’s here with us,” said friend Brandon Soto while he stared at the mural with teary eyes. “They captured him and his essence really well. He was such a good person.”
Apples, oranges, letters, candles, flowers in beer bottles and photos were part of a small altar that family and friends placed beneath the mural. Next to it, Arguello-Inglis mother, Vicki Inglis painted flowers on an image of the Aztec calendar.
“Seeing and working here has helped me with my healing. It just makes me think of how big his heart was,” said Inglis. “He was such a good kid and I just miss him so much.”
Family, volunteers and artists have been working on the piece since last Thursday. They said they were hoping to finish it by Tuesday, but its size means it will take a bit longer.
For artist Tre Sorensen, being part of this project brings bittersweet feelings. He said he hates painting a mural for someone who has died young but loves seeing the reaction of loved ones when he finishes a tribute.
Sorensen is also a good friend of Arguello-Inglis’s sister, Natalia. He remembers when he heard the news of Lucho’s passing while he was working on a mural on 24th and Capp streets at La Victoria. He immediately bought some pan dulce, white flowers and candles and headed to Dolores Park to see his friend.
“I went to say something to Naty but she was crying in someone’s lap and I didn’t know anybody there so I just was there for about two or three minutes and left,” said Sorensen. “I had no idea that I would end up painting him and that I would end up being involved here. It really feels godly to even be a part of this.”
Sorensen remembers Lucho as a special member of the neighborhood and the graffiti community.
“I pray and I tell him ‘I’m so sorry that this happened to you,’” said Natalia Arguello-Inglis. “And ‘I’m so sorry that your life was taken and stolen from you in this way by violence.’”
I’m a person who lived in your neighborhood the Mission ☺️. I love the Murals because the people in the Murals are people that I saw everyday. We should appreciate what it took to get this done 👍.