Inside the Sue Carter Friends of the Library Community Room at El Segundo Public Library, an 8-foot by 40-foot mural traces a journey through time and place. Created by artist Nanibah Chacon in 2019, "Portals to Memory" isn't just a painting on a wall. It's a visual story of the land itself, reaching back to the Tongva territories that existed long before the city took shape, honoring the indigenous roots and natural landscape that define this place.
Chacon, an artist of Diné and Chicana heritage acclaimed for public murals nationwide, approached the project with a clear philosophy: art should be a tool for social change, accessibility, and cultural reflection. She didn't create the mural in isolation. Instead, she held community listening sessions, inviting residents to share their connections to the land, their memories, their sense of what El Segundo means. What emerged was something deeply collaborative, a work that belongs to everyone who calls this place home.
The mural moves like memory itself. Symbolic "cog stones" ground the composition, referencing indigenous knowledge and the markers humans have always used to navigate and understand their world. Silver dune lupine and coastal buckwheat bloom across the canvas, native plants that root the story in this specific stretch of California coast. The ocean meets the sky. Constellations appear. The whole piece flows from earth to air, from past to present, celebrating nature as both teacher and muse.
"Nature has always been our first teacher with its vast mysteries and abundant systems of knowledge," Chacon explains. "The mural celebrates the beauty of wonder and our innate need to create objects that are reflective of what we see in nature." It's a reminder that art isn't separate from the natural world. It's how we process it, how we make sense of our place within it, how we honor what came before us.
For five years, "Portals to Memory" served its purpose beautifully within the library walls. But in 2024, as part of El Segundo Art Walk's AR public art initiative, the mural found new life. Reality Experience Design created an AR experience that takes Chacon's vision beyond the community room, bringing elements of the mural into outdoor spaces where even more people can encounter it.
Through the AR layer, flowers wave in a digital breeze. Butterflies take flight. Environmental effects create an immersive experience that deepens the connection between viewers and the natural world the mural celebrates. It's not about replacing the original work. It's about extending its reach, creating portals—just like the title suggests—that let people step into the story from wherever they are.
The enhancement addresses something important: accessibility. Not everyone can visit the library community room, but through AR, the mural's message can travel. It meets people where they already are, on their phones, in public spaces, during art walks and everyday moments. It invites younger, digitally native audiences to engage with indigenous perspectives and environmental themes in a format that feels natural to them.
This project shows how technology and tradition don't have to be at odds. The AR experience honors Chacon's original intent while giving it new dimensions. It preserves the cultural and historical weight of the work while making it more present, more accessible, more alive in the community's daily experience.
El Segundo continues to position itself at the forefront of digital public art, but projects like "Portals to Memory" prove it's not just about being cutting-edge. It's about using every tool available to tell stories that matter, to honor the land and the people who came before, and to create connections that span generations and technologies.
Chacon's mural reminds us that we've always been interpreters of nature, always sought to mirror what we see in the world around us. Now, through AR, that interpretation gains another layer. The mural becomes a living portal between past and present, between paint and pixel, between the Tongva territories that once were and the El Segundo that is—always remembering, always looking forward, always rooted in place.
