On Saturday morning, Phil had taken us out to the St. Nicholas Croatian Church murals in Millvale, Pennsylvania, to see the Maxo Vanko murals. What instantly struck me was the vivid and detailed artwork. The paintings depicted the struggles, faith, and sacrifices of the Croatian immigrant community who left their homeland to work in the coal mines and steel mills along the river. The paintings were finished during the time of World War Two, so he made every painting symbolic.

Of all the imagery filling the sanctuary, the panel that stuck with me the most was The Capitalist. This piece shows a wealthy man dining in luxury, completely insulated from the grit and sweat of the surrounding laboring class. Through this image, Vanka shows that the community’s identity wasn’t just built on hard work, but on a sharp, collective resilience and a shared demand for justice in the face of exploitation.

The next mural that stood out to me was Injustice. Shown as a terrifying, cold-hearted figure in black wearing a WWI gas mask, Injustice holds a bloody sword and a tilted scale where money blatantly outweighs bread while desperate hands reach upward in vain. This portrayal shows that Millvale’s identity was a collective resistance to a system that cared more about money than an individuals’ well-being.