Mexican American artistic force unleashed
MOA showcases glory of Xicanx works, the most expansive exhibit of its kind mounted in B.C.
From the resistance to systemic abuse that formed the basis of El Movimento in the 1960s and 1970s to the contemporary generation embracing issues of personal and political import right now, Xicanx Dreamers + Changemakers/ Soñadores + creadores del cambio is a showcase for the wide-ranging scope of creative expression and intention coming from Mexican-American artists. Xicanx is a gender-neutral form of the words Chicano or Chicana.
Curated by the MOA's Jill Baird and Greta de León, the executive director of the Americas Research Network, the exhibit, which opens at the Museum of Anthropology this week, is the most expansive of its kind mounted in B.C. By the end of viewing this exhibit, nobody is going to leave thinking of low-rider cars or iconographic tattoos or candle wrappers as defining a cultural identity. These works are exciting, brash, active and sometimes disquieting.
The two spoke by Zoom from different parts of Mexico about this interesting cultural force, incorporating elements of identity from such Indigenous ideas as the ancestral homeland of Aztlán, farm labourers, urban activists, fantasists and more. Baird says the idea for the show had been suggested by her predecessor, but was held back for a number of reasons. She's pleased that was the case, as it enabled the co-curation. MOA is already a member of the American Research Network where de León had worked on a number of projects about intercultural exchange for the museum and the Smithsonian.
Learning about Xicanx art through the artists has been eye-opening for Baird. “For the last three years, I have been learning a lot about what I thought I knew about the American Civil Rights movement and gained a richer and much more diverse understanding of what it encompassed,” she said.
“I've learned a lot about the whole Xicanx movement through the artists and working with Greta and discovered a far more interesting and complicated world than what I thought. So we have people like Rudy Treviño, whose artwork from the early-to-mid 1970s speaks about the agricultural movements of Cesar Chavez and others, to an altar we commissioned by a new artist from San Antonio, which is a homage to Rasquachismo.
Rasquachismo is a term coined by scholar Tomás Ybarra-Frausto to describe the “underdog perspective, or view from below” esthetic present in working class Xicanx and Mexican art movements. With roots dating back to Nahuatl nation origins, the term was rooted in an earlier classist Spanish slur that was embraced as a means of empowerment and integration by a marginalized community. This can be seen in the art in everything from inventive use of found or discarded objects to distinctly resisting imposed norms and approaches in techniques.
“It's a way of reappropriating and owning negative terms to create something beautiful and representative of the rasquache lifestyle, which is powerful,” says de León. “The whole story of the Civil Rights movement in the United States hasn't reflected the mosaic nature of its origins and now there is enough of a critical mass of people looking at it that it is being understood. The issues remain too, as you even have Mexican temporary workers on the fields in B.C. facing some of the same challenges.”
The first thing visitors will see is a 2017 white neon piece by New Yorkbased artist Alejandro Diaz proudly proclaiming Make Tacos Not War.
This eye to the geopolitics of the present day is a perfect introduction into the methods that the artists use to combine serious meaning with more than a little humour. Both curators assert that this approach doesn't take away from the import of the content, but rather displays resilience in the face of adversity. It is a recurring component of Xicanx culture.
“Chicano or chicana is exclusively Mexican American in origin and is a political movement, a self-identification and a distinct culture separate from Latinx, etc.,” said de León. “One of the first questions we put to all of the artists we interviewed was whether they identify as Xicanx because it is denotes a political and social activism and a community involvement. While all of them are Mexican-American, not all Mexican Americans are them.”
Naturally, no exhibit of Mexican-based art could ever be complete without incorporating the tradition of muralism.
The final part of presentation was to include the hugely significant literature and poetry of the community. Fragments of text from noted authors are found throughout the exhibit tied in with the art on display.