I'm Ashley C. Ford, and this is Into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice, produced with Vox Creative.

Let's get into it.

I would cut out huge paper characters and cover the kitchen with it.

And my father, he actually built a whole hanging system in my house so that I could hang all my art.

My mom would just be like, oh my god, she's taking over the house.

My parents really wanted to keep me busy.

Fabiana Rodriguez's parents used her natural creativity to keep her inside and away from the

violence outside their door, both from gangs and police. Her family lived in a house in the Fruitvale

neighborhood of Oakland, California, which saw an enormous amount of organizing in the

70s and 80s, from the Chicano movement, from labor organizers, from the Black Panthers,

and others. This was also the beginning of the war on drugs.

I had to live a very sheltered childhood. I found culture as a place where I could escape and

imagine something different. Fabiana turned her art making into a career.

Today, her work spans city buildings.

She paints enormous murals full of bright colors

that often feature portraits of regular people,

and she makes posters with slogans like,

Migration is beautiful.

There is so much power coming from this one

person in her creations, which have often been a response to the injustices she's seen around her.

Her work is not just something pretty to look at. It has to be around naming the pain of what has been caused as a result of systemic racism.

I believe that, you know, through my art, I'm actually able to name and say and express myself

...