Lexington, KY - With its first exhibit solely dedicated to Latino/Latina artists living in America, the Lexington Art League is focusing on the contributions of this community -
the largest immigration population in Kentucky -
to the world of visual arts. "Crossings" includes the work of 14 artists (eight from Kentucky) exploring issues of immigration, gender, race, labor, class, sexuality and cultural identity through a range of media, from painting and photography to mixed media installations.
While many aspects of the Latino culture are recognizable in American life (such as food, music and dance), an appreciation of Latino visual art has not been nurtured. The exhibit's guest curators -
Marta Miranda, Diane Kahlo and Andres Cruz - hope that by being exposed to the artists' works, a greater dialogue about the political ramifications associated with immigrant communities can be fostered.
Cruz, a Costa Rica native and the editor and publisher of the bilingual newspaper La Voz de Kentucky (and Chevy Chase neighbor), answered some questions about the exhibit.
What's the background behind this exhibit?
It's about expanding this discussion of Latinos in the United States. Usually, when we have a discussion about Latinos, it's about migration, immigration, economics. This is the debate that we see. There are other areas that Latinos contribute to in many ways -
like the arts and cultural sector.
So what we're trying to do is expand that level of discussion. By bringing in these different artists, you can really present different issues.
What criteria did you and the other curators use in selecting which pieces of art would be included in the exhibit?
Pieces that show the intersection of art, culture, migration, politics, gender. An artist that could somehow, through their art, present this intersection of art and culture. Social change and culture. The immigration experience. The migration experience. That was the basic criteria.
Do you consider this political art, or is it simply art?
It's both, but this is something very important. We're not trying to promote or establish an ideological statement in favor of immigration reform with this exhibit. We're trying to expand, create a forum of discussion about all the elements of culture that Latinos contribute to the United States.
It's not a pro-immigration exhibit, but it's not objective. There is the identify of the artist, and the relations of identity and politics, but it's not the main objective of this.
Now, there's some very political pieces in here. Mine, for example ["Thirst," an installation utilizing plastic water bottles]. Every bottle of water has the name of somebody who died at the border of heat exhaustion, because they don't have access to water. My position is that I cannot be indifferent to the fact that any human being can die because they don't have access to water, especially when they are looking for a better life. Very political, but the objective is, I'm targeting the indifference of the international community on the human tragedy we're going through.
Other aspects of Latino culture are recognizable in our culture, like music and food. Why isn't Latino visual art as prevalent?
It's not here, in Kentucky. You've got cultural centers: Miami, Chicago, New York, L.A. Artists traditionally went to the big centers where they have art. That's why we haven't seen it here, but it's growing. There are a lot of Latino artists here.
What we're experiencing here, this is a first generation of immigrants. In places like Chicago, like L.A., these places have been traditional routes of migration. Kentucky is very recent, this is a very recent community of people.
What do you hope viewers take away from this exhibit?
Simple, that Latinos are a very diverse group. They are not a race - some are white, some are black, some are Latino, some are Chicano. Some speak Spanish, some speak Portuguese, some speak French.
Our contributions to the United States are on many different levels. Visual art is one of those elements, and Kentucky hasn't been exposed to much of it. That's something we're trying to change.
I think that we can learn to see others as human beings. I think when we start seeing each other has human beings, maybe we start acting together, maybe we start discovering that we're not that different, that there's some value in what is different, that we've got to be sensitive.