Here’s Why El Paso Artist Tino Ortega Chose “Con Huevos” As His Latest Mylar Balloon Mural
Oh, El Paso. This is why we can’t have nice things. Because someone always has to question things!
The latest mural in El Paso’s 3-D Mylar Balloon series has a few El Pasoans questioning why the specific phrase was used.
Tino Ortega has made it his mission to create 23 mylar balloon murals to honor the 23 victims of the tragic El Paso Walmart Shooting. So far he is at number 12 and his latest mural created has the phrase “Con Huevos” painted on a wall at an east El Paso Mexican restaurant, Morra Mia.
Most Hispanics are familiar with what that phrase means. To some, it means to do things with strength or force. And to some, it can be used as a slang word meaning something a little more vulgar and it was those people who thought of the phrase as vulgar that wondered why Tino decided to use that specific phrase for his mylar balloon series.
El Paso’s FitFam shared a time-lapse video of Tino as he painted the mural and while many people were excited to see the mural, a few had questions.
We brought this topic up during Mornings with Mike & Iris and although the majority of callers loved the phrase, commenters online had their own questions:
“How the F does “Con Huevos” honor the people from Walmart?!”
“Where’s the connection?”
“Wow, really you couldn't put a different word instead of that?”
“Someone help me understand the correlation between that phrase and the Walmart shooting please.”
Personally, when I saw the mural I laughed and immediately thought “That is so El Paso.” My thoughts were only positive because to me when a person says “Con Huevos” it means “Con Ganas” or doing something with strength.
We reached out to both Tino and the owner of Morra Mia, Toni Assael, to understand why they chose this phrase and the answers were what I expected:
“Con Huevos means doing something with courage,” explained the owner of Morra Mia Toni. ”We discussed with the artist, Tino, about the double meaning behind it because we are also a restaurant that serves breakfast so, we do serve eggs, huevos.”
Toni knew that this phrase was different and edgy and nothing like the other murals so it’s exactly why she wanted it painted on her restaurant.
“We, El Paso, went through the shooting and then we struggled with the pandemic but we all had the courage to keep on going, we kept going “Con Huevos,” said Toni.
For Tino, his reasoning behind the mural is pretty much the same as Toni’s.
“The mural was chosen with the owner of Morra Mia to have a message that was representative of a courageous battle. I love that this piece is a double entendre because when I’m asked about how I want my chilaquiles I usually say con huevos,” said Tino.
So while I do understand that for some people this phrase may be a vulgar phrase to them, I also think that for many of us who grew up in El Paso, this phrase has a positive meaning behind it.
How many times did someone in our family tell us to do something “Con Huevos” and we did that thing with strength and courage?
I love that this new mural started a conversation because, in my opinion, the best works of art are the ones that start a conversation so Tino, keep on doing you and I can’t wait to see Mural number 13!
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