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Explore the powerful artwork of the .Xicanx.Biennial, showcasing artists who use their creativity to raise awareness about immigrant rights, detention centers, and the struggles faced by marginalized communities. From woodblock prints to deconstructed skirts, this exhibition highlights the strength and solidarity of immigrant voices.
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“No More Cages” by Stephany Sanchez “The wood block print, No More Cages by Stephany Sanchez is a call to action against aggressive Immigration and Customs enforcement tactics that separate families at the U.S. border. As news surrounding detained children, adults, and the poor conditions of detention centers continue to polarize American society, artists like Sanchez have utilized art to establish solidarity with the immigrant community. Rooted in Oaxacan and political printmaking, Sanchez channels the voices of underrepresented communities and highlights civil struggles.”
“Juntos” by NataliaAnciso “This piece by Natalia Anciso was greatly influenced by the artist’s experience while visiting a child detention center in her home state of Texas. Anciso was greatly drawn to the quality and presence of emergency blankets within the facility, leading her to utilize the blanket material within this work. The emergency blanket is a direct reference to the current imprisonment of children at the U.S. border. She uses the style of pano arte, where drawings are done in ballpoint pen on handkerchiefs, an art thought to have originated from Chicano prisoners in the 1940s. Anciso makes the careful decision to utilize a vernacular technique in her illustration in order to draw parallels between the current state of immigrant prisoners and America’s extensive history of imprisonment and mistreatment of immigrants and of colored bodies.”
“Walls can’t keep out greatness” by Jessica Sabogal “American World War II posters sought to unite citizens under a common identity. Posters often depicted handsome young white men, recruited or engaged in battle. Jessica Sabogal reworks American war propaganda to create her own poster starring the mother of artist and educator Josue Rojas. She fuses indigenous Colombian symbols with the American flag and writes Walls Can’t Keep Out Greatness to accentuate America’s relationship with migration, and the brown faces that make up the fastest growing population in the U.S.
“Ingrid Lopez Project” by Johana Moscoso “The Ingrid Lopez Project represents a portion of a larger body of work which includes sculptures, tapestries, video, and sound. These deconstructed skirts were once owned by the late Ingrid Lopez, who was Moscoso’s cousin, and a key individual in assisting new immigrants both during and post arrival. These layered works function as abstract maps tracing the time, labor, and nostalgia of Ingrid’s journey through South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Moscoso aims to create support of immigrant voices and and empathy for those migrating from their homelands.”
“More Freely” by Vanessa “Agana” Espinoza “Multidimensional artist Vanessa “Agana” Espinoza references the Statue of Liberty. Since its arrival to the United States, the Statue of Liberty has become a symbol of freedom for the United States and a welcoming sight for arriving immigrants. The message, “la tierra es de quien la trabaja,” the land belongs to those who work it, inscripted within the piece suggests that Agana appropriates the iconic statue in order to address and acknowledge the work of immigrants in the United States. Agana counters the white xenophobic narrative by asserting America as a land of immigrants. Her work emphasizes the indigenous connection with nature and culture as a source of pride, love, and freedom.”
“First Aid: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death” by Yvonne Escalante “First Aid: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death” looks at the absurdity of seeking easy fixes to unimaginably complex global issues. Referencing the four horsemen of the apocalypse, First Aid grewout of Escalante’s frustration with the overwhelming infux of desperate situations. The four white medical cabinets that make up the series are reimagined as an arcade claw machine where the player must perfectly position the claw to win a prize; a game where the proprietor can pre-determine the frequency of winners and losers. These dispenser encapsulate the frustration and tension of trying to clench the prize, or in this case, desperately needed solutions.”
“Sashiko, Wish Candy” by Shizu Saldamando “Shizu Saldamando’s work is not overtly political. Rather, she chooses to depict friends and family who operate outside of mainstream circles and who consciously construct their own creative communities. In portraying Sashiko Yuen, Saldamando demonstrates appreciation and respect for Yuen’s work as a queer artist. Through the whimsy and humor of her art, Yue encourages marginalized communities within her following to resist and persevere.”
“The Future is…” by Elizabeth Blancas “In The Future is… artist Elizabeth Blancos portrays Bay Area-based trans performing artist, filmmaker, and scholar, Davia Spain. The slogan The Future is Femme Trans Non Binary Now unapologetically asserts the visibility of Trans and Queer communities in American society and that of non-binary genders. The work sends a timely message considering the current administration’s attempt to revoke civil rights protections for transgender people.”
“Trilogy” by Sandra Antongiorgi “Sandra Antongiorgi draws from her own experiences living in Chicago to create a triptych of self-portraits. In Trilogy, Antongiorgi manipulates a single image to emphasize her own process of overcoming trauma, violence, incarceration, and systemic marginalization with a warrior’s spirit.”
“Are you happy now? Am I white enough” by Erika Gómez Henao Erika Gómez Henao portrays herself as the subject of her work in order to make a statement surrounding eurocentric standards of beauty and the prevalence of colorism in the United States and Latino America. Henao utilizes paint to critique the scarce representation of people of color in Western and Classical painting. In the work, Henao stands naked, revealing her natural brown skin. Gomez’s hair, face, and hands are smeared in white pinkish paint suggesting to the viewer that this is self-inflicted. Her face remains expressionless, her eyes stare intently back at the viewer, shifting the power dynamic, to say, Are you happy now? Am I white enough?.”
“Skin Tone Parquet” by Pilar Agüero-Esparza “In Skin Tone Parquet by Pilar Agüero-Esparza, she asks the viewer to reflect on the experience of color and its social and racial constructions. On first glance the work presents itself as a geometric abstraction, but on further observance Agüero-Esparza illustrates a skin tone chart that evolves from left to right, changing pattern and scale while getting progressively darker in color and complexity. The mural references both the act of weaving and parquet wood floors. She illustrates that skin cannot be reduced to a single color when in reality individuals are a mixture of tones “woven” together. In addition, despite the tendency to judge each other by the color of one’s skin, Agüero-Esparza demonstrates that people are undeniably intertwined to one another.”
“Strength, Will, and Power of Protest” by Yolanda Guerra “Yolanda Guerra’s installation is inspired by a teenage experience in which her older brother demanded she iron his shirt. Guerra utilizes an ironing board with a cabinet to scrutinize the roles women have traditionally played within Latino households, further emphasized by including female genitalia as a symbol of resistance.”
“The Stars Were Bright, Fernando” by Mitsy Ávila Ovalles Ovalles acknowledges the displacement of the Mexican-American community formerly known as Chavez Ravine in which the land was purchased to develop L.A. Dodgers Stadium. Ovalles connects the displaced ghosts of Chavez Ravine to the erasure of Mural de la Raza, by Jose Mesa Velasquez, previously located in Eastside San Jose. In the process, only the La Virgen de Guadalupe was left untouched, representing the resilience of communities faced with erasure. “Mitsy Ávila Ovalles combines her love of baseball, graffiti, and family to create highly symbolic and layered artwork. Ovalles consciously highlights parts of her work more than others creating a push-and-pull of symbols relating to the Mexican-American experience. Ovalles draws focus to the first Latino baseball player for the L.A. Dodgers, Mexican-born Fernando Valenzuela, whose influence embodied Mexican inclusion in American traditions.
