Read an Academic Passage

Read the passage and answer the questions.

Murals and Memory: How Public Art Shapes Urban Identity

art history or cultural studies

In many cities, murals are more than decoration. Because they are painted on walls that everyone passes, they can communicate history and values to people who might never enter a museum. For this reason, many art historians now treat murals as one of the ways in which communities define who they are. In the early twentieth century, Mexican painters such as Diego Rivera covered public buildings with scenes of workers and Indigenous peoples to celebrate national history. Similar strategies later appeared in neighborhoods in the United States, where murals honor migration stories or local civil rights leaders who are missing from official monuments. Location matters as well: a mural on a school or market is seen every day, so its images become part of ordinary life rather than a distant history lesson. Murals can also become contested. City governments sometimes pay for them to attract tourists, but this support may dilute their original message. A mural that began as a protest against inequality can be reinterpreted as a harmless attraction once it appears on travel websites and becomes a popular background for photographs. Murals, in other words, are not neutral decorations: their meaning depends on who controls them and on how audiences choose to see them.

In many cities, murals are more than decoration. Because they are painted on walls that everyone passes, they can communicate history and values to people who might never enter a museum. For this reason, many art historians now treat murals as one of the ways in which communities define who they are.

In the early twentieth century, Mexican painters such as Diego Rivera covered public buildings with scenes of workers and Indigenous peoples to celebrate national history. Similar strategies later appeared in neighborhoods in the United States, where murals honor migration stories or local civil rights leaders who are missing from official monuments. Location matters as well: a mural on a school or market is seen every day, so its images become part of ordinary life rather than a distant history lesson.

Murals can also become contested. City governments sometimes pay for them to attract tourists, but this support may dilute their original message. A mural that began as a protest against inequality can be reinterpreted as a harmless attraction once it appears on travel websites and becomes a popular background for photographs. Murals, in other words, are not neutral decorations: their meaning depends on who controls them and on how audiences choose to see them.

1. The word "dilute" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to

• A. reveal
• B. expand
• C. weaken
• D. replace

2. According to paragraph 2, why does the location of a mural matter?

• A. People who pass it daily come to see it as part of normal life.
• B. Murals on schools and markets cannot be changed by the city.
• C. Schools and markets attract far more daily visitors than museums do.
• D. Official monuments are rarely built near schools or markets.

3. Why does the author mention Diego Rivera in paragraph 2?

• A. To show that Mexican murals avoided political subjects
• B. To explain why many murals are now kept in museums
• C. To contrast murals with the official monuments built in his own time
• D. To give an early example of murals that present a nation's history

4. What can be inferred from paragraph 3 about a protest mural that appears on travel websites?

• A. The city will probably paint over it.
• B. Many viewers may overlook its criticism.
• C. Its artist will be paid by the city government.
• D. Fewer local residents will visit it than before.

5. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

• A. Murals shape how communities see themselves, but their meaning can change.
• B. Murals are more effective than museums at preserving a nation's history.
• C. Murals lose all of their value once governments start paying for them.
• D. Murals in the United States copied the style of Mexican public painting.