The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Art mirroring life
There are a lot of strong Latin American artists in Connecticut and they need representation,” Yolanda Vasquez Petrocelli, a Bridgeport artist from Mexico City said in Spanish.
Vasquez Petrocelli curated “Latinisiimo,” a biennial exhibit in Bridgeport’s City Lights Gallery that opened a few days after the start of Hispanic Heritage Month and runs until Nov. 3. It showcases 12 artists from Latin American countries or with Latino heritage.
“I think Latino artists have to work twice as hard, so we should promote it as much as possible,” said Vasquez Petrocelli in Spanish.
This year’s Latinisiimo is a tribute to the Indigenous people of Latin America, in part inspired by Vasquez Petrocelli’s own Purepecha and Tarasca roots.
Born and raised in Mexico City, Vasquez Petrocelli attended the University of Texas at Austin. Her art has been showcased all around Connecticut, including the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport and the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury. Petrocelli’s art focuses on photography that encompasses “maps of experiences and feelings,” according to her website. She is also one of the only Latinas living in Bridgeport’s Artspace, a housing space dedicated to artists located in the old Read’s department store building, where she has been a resident for more than 15 years.
From acrylic on canvas to digital print, the Latinisiimo showcases the work of Hispanic artists such as Carlos Bautista Biernay, Maria Lino, Blanka Ameskua, Diane Barceló and Juliana Chavarria.
However, the presence of Hispanic artists in galleries might still not reflect the number of artists in the region.
“There’s a fear; I think it’s a reflection of what happens in the country. Like ‘these immigrants are going to take our jobs,’ and I think that mentality in some ways extends to the cultural organizations and the art world in general,” said Carlos
Hernandez Chavez, Mexican artist and longtime Hartford resident. His mural about migrant workers is displayed on the walls of Hartford City Hall.
Hernandez Chavez said in his experience, artists from Latin American countries are mostly found in “niche galleries,” and he says large institutions still need to seek artists of Hispanic Heritage actively.
“We don’t see other major galleries going out there pretty much scouting for the talent of Latinos,” he said. Hernandez Chavez has two pieces showcased in “Latinisiimo,” a self-portrait and a drawing of two hands, symbolizing his gratefulness for his life.
City Lights’ Executive Director, Suzanne Kachmar said having Vasquez Petrocelli as the exhibit’s curator exposed her to artists she otherwise wouldn’t have known.
“It’s so wonderful to be around but to recognize also the challenges that people in the Latin community are still contending with,” said Kachmar.
While Hernandez Chavez’s work has been shown in several local galleries and venues such as the Old State House, Hartford Public Library and the Windsor Art Center, he attributes his opportunities to his colleague Benjamin Ortiz, a Bridgeport-born Latino art curator.
And contacts like these are essential in the art scene, artists say.
“I sometimes don’t have enough contacts, since [Stamford] is not a city I grew up in and everything is different. Your longtime friends and artists that know your work, career and process and [that] respect you are not here,” said Juan Sierra, an artist originally from Medellin.
Late last year, Sierra painted a mural located in 23 Isaacs St., Norwalk, commemorating Colombian regional dancers. Sierra found the call for artists through a friend.
Additionally, Sierra says that not being fully fluent in English has limited him when searching for open calls from museums, galleries, and exhibits looking to show local artists’ work.
Since both of their arrivals in the United States, Vasquez Petrocelli and Hernandez Chavez, they have adapted to the challenges that being an immigrant artist means, and that has inspired them to continue uplifting other Hispanic artists.
“There is a lot of talent in the Latino community, but we need to support it,” said Vasquez Petrocelli.
As for what can be done to show Hispanic representation in Connecticut’s art scene, Hernandez Chavez recommends to art institutions to “just open the doors.”