Fernando Llort

[8] Fernando Llort started his post secondary education at the University of El Salvador in the early 1960s where he studied architecture,[5] but he dropped out due to unknown reasons.

[9] Afterwards, Llort spent the next three years studying in France at the University of Toulouse, graduating with a Bachelors of Philosophy,[5] and then at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, where he'd eventually earn his degree in Theology.

To escape instability, in 1971 he and other young artists moved to the town of La Palma in the northern region of El Salvador, close to the border with Honduras.

Fernando Llort's reason for art making was not a critique on the political climate or the social oppression of the war El Salvador was facing, but to strengthen the Salvadorean identity using landscapes, indigenous symbols and capturing the daily life of the people.

[5] The reoccurring religious symbols of doves, suns, and a mosaic like structure to each craft was intentional to contrast the difficult times the civil war caused.

[5] Llort's goal was "to reconnect my roots as a Latin American, and help define our people in their human and spiritual dimensions"[7] Today, La Palma is renowned for its native artists and handicraft artisans.

Fernando Llort and the other artists from San Salvador are recognized as founders of the town's artisanal movement, which provides an opportunity for campesinos to learn about art, and helps them find sources of income other than field work.

[10] Llort himself launched the project to establish the Center for Comprehensive Development (Spanish: Centro de Desarrollo Integral)[5] and taught art classes.

Once the civil war began, however, he left La Palma in 1980 and moved back to San Salvador, but still maintained his connections with the mountain people.

[5] In late December 2012, Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas ordered its removal without consulting the national government or the artist, and workers chipped off and destroyed all the 2,700 tiles of the mural.