Local artist leading Pilsen's mural history walking tour this weekend

CHICAGO (CBS)-- This weekend, Chicagoans will have the opportunity to learn about the Pilsen neighborhood's distinct mural history through a walking tour hosted by the Chicago Humanities Festival. 

The artist leading that tour is Sam Kirk, a multidisciplinary artist who's created nearly 50 murals in Chicago, many of them in Pilsen. 

As a queer, biracial Chicagoan, much of her work is personal. She shares her passion for sparking conversation and telling stories through public art. 

"I grew up seeing different tags and murals throughout the city and was always fascinated with the cultural aspect of that," Kirk said. "I painted my first mural in 2010 and really enjoyed the community interaction and how folks on the street would come up to me and talk about the piece and ask questions."

Kirk's said the art is celebratory with underlying themes about segregation and human rights. One of the pieces focuses on youth homeliness. 

"And then there's a mural on 18th Street and Ashland, which is a complete tribute to the LGBTQ community and that was the most recent piece that I painted in Pilsen and that was a big one for me," Kirk said. 

Kirk said the pieces have ties to personal experiences with hate crimes. 

"There's memories that are tied to those experiences that I can't erase, every time I walk down certain streets in Pilsen, that's what comes to mind, so when I put up that mural I was nervous, I was curious to see if it would be vandalized," Kirk said. "To my surprise, it hasn't been and we received really strong feedback when we put it up and finished putting it up and it's the only mural that I know of in Pilsen that solely focused on the LGBTQ community."

The Pilsen mural tour with Sam Kirk takes place this Sunday at 1 p.m. as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival.