7TH XICANX BIENNIAL: MUXERES RISING

Johana Moscoso Ingrid LopĂŠz Project 2018

Erika Gomez Henao Are you happy now? Am I white enough?

2018

The 7th Xicanx Biennial: Muxeres Rising exhibition highlights the artwork of thirteen self-identified Latix women who are disrupting and redefining social norms.

Natalia Anciso Sandra Atongiorgi Elizabeth Blancas Yvonne Escalante’s Pilar Agüero-Esparza Vanessa “Agana” Espinoza Yolanda Guerra

Yolanda Guerra Love, Strength, Will, and Power of Protest 2017

Erika Gómez Henao Johana Moscoso Mitsy Ávila Ovalles Jessica Sabogal Shizu Saldamando Stephany Sanchez

The 7th Xicanx Biennial: Muxeres Rising exhibition highlights the artwork of 13 selfidentified Latinx women who are disrupting and redefining social norms. Muxeres Rising underlines roles that Latinx women embody in the past and present through narratives of their communities, families, and homelands, all while openly critiquing the repressive qualities of American politics and Latino culture.

As of November 2018, an unprecedented number of children remain separated from their families within detention centers. In her work, Stephany Sanchez simplifies her resistance by stating “No More Cages” as news surrounding detained children continue to polarize American society. Natalia Anciso creates work establishing solidarity with detained children and their families. With powerful illustrations of families embracing and the use of an emergency blanket as a canvas, Anciso constructs a visual representation of family separation at U.S. borders.

Muralist Jessica Sabogal, appropriates American propaganda to create a new narrative starring her own Latinx hero with their head held high. Sabogal fuses indigenous Colombian patterns with the American flag and simply expresses Walls can’t keep out greatness.

Johana Moscoso shares the Ingrid López Project honoring a relative who was instrumental in assisting immigrants both during and post-arrival to the U.S. Moscoso creates empathy by embroidering Ingrid’s skirts with abstract maps that trace time, labor, and nostalgia.

Vanessa “Agana” Espinoza More Freely 2014

Vanessa “Agana” Espinoza counters 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.

Yvonne Escalante’s installation looks at the absurdity of seeking easy fixes to unimaginably complex global issues. Escalante visualizes and fabricates four medical kits named Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death referencing the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Escalante reimagined them as an arcade claw machine which encapsulates the frustration and tension of trying to clench much needed solutions during the inconceivable issues of today.

Muxeres Rising highlights portraits and compositions that seek to energize Latinx women spiritually and politically. In Sashiko, Wish Candy, Shizu Saldamando pays homage to a queer artist who encourages their social media followers to resist and persevere with whimsy and humor, many of whom may be struggling with marginalization and depression.Elizabeth Blancas submits imagery of a meaningful trans influencer to demand the inevitable nonbinary future for the LGBTQ community which is currently under attack. Sandra Atongiorgi stages a tryptic of self-portraits sharing her own process of overcoming personal trauma with a warrior’s spirit.

The mural of Pilar Agüero-Esparza investigates the experience of skin tone and its social and racial implications. Using geometric abstraction along with a skin-tone palette, Agüero-Esparza depicts evidence that skin cannot be reduced to a single color, when in reality, skin is spectrum of tones “woven” together. Struggling with the pressure of whiteness in America the self-portrait of Erika Gómez Henao provides a critique of racism perpetuated by socially prescribed labels.

Henao questions “Am I white enough?”

While the work of these artists touch upon the topics of identity and immigration politics, Yolanda Guerra focuses on the role of women within Latino culture. Guerra utilizes an ironing board with a cabinet to scrutinize roles women have traditionally played within Latino households. In Yolanda Guerra’s piece Strength, Will and Power of Protest, Guerra tells a story with imagery of female genitalia to challenge the notion that women should be domesticated.

On the other hand, Mitsy Ávila Ovalles reclaims the domestic role of Latinx women in her inclusion of nostalgic items associated with the role Latinx women play in the household. While she portrays warmth in homemaking she juxtaposes it with soap bars spelling out pain reflecting the delicate balance she must maintain in her role as a wife and as a practicing artist. Ovalles simultaneously reveals the legacy of 1980’s L.A. Dodger, Fernando Valenzuela, a Mexican pitcher that became the face of Latinos in Major League Baseball. Valenzuela’s influence symbolized assimilation for Mexican families, but even with influencers like Valenzuela, Xicanx families are still being displaced.

Ovalles returns to connect the displaced ghosts of Chavez Ravine with the Jose Mesa Velasquez mural being erased from the Payless building on the East Side of San Jose.

With a broad-stroke, these images reflect equal joy and pain of Latinx culture.

This survey of Latinx art showcases just how latinx muxeres have felt vulnerable but also empowered to challenge American and Latino power structures. The artists rise to hold their communities together, to humanize people, and to resist silencing. Muxeres Rising reflects perseverance in the face of adversity.

Shizu Saldamando Sashiko, Wish Candy 2019

Vanessa “Agana” Espinoza Day & Night 2019

Tortilleros 2019

The star were bright, Fernando Mixed media on Canvas 2018

Untitled Soap Carvings 2013 - 18

Hacendosa Enbroidery on an apron 2015

Curatorial Team Damian Kelly is the Visual Arts Engagement Coordinator at MACLA. Kelly has long been involved in the San Jose arts scene as a graphic designer, photographer, artist, and preparator. The 7th Xicanx Biennial: Muxeres Rising is his first curated exhibition. Kelly holds a B.S. from San Jose State University in Industrial Design.

Ambar Gonzalez is a Curatorial Intern at MACLA. She is interested in community engagement through art. While at MACLA she’s had the opportunity to learn basic preparator work, write about the 7th Xicanx Biennial: Muxeres Rising artwork in extended labeling and the curatorial statement. Ambar holds a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science Carla Paredes is a Curatorial Intern at MACLA. As a photographer, she’s passionate about creating more visibility for artists of color within fine art spaces. She finds it vital that arts organizations reflect the community they serve. While at MACLA she’s had the opportunity to learn basic preparator work, write about the 7th Xicanx Biennial: Muxeres Rising artwork in extended labeling and the curatorial statement. She’s currently helping plan MACLA’s 21st Latino Art Now auction.

Carla holds a B.A in Theater, Film, and Digital Film Production.

Jessica Sabogal Walls Can’t Keep Out Greatness 2018

Photographs by Damian Kelly

Stephany Sanchez No More Cages 2018

Yvonne Escalante First Aid: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death (left to right) 2016

Sandra Antongiorgi Trilogy 2017

Natalia Anciso Suenos Juntos (familes belong together series) 2018

Board of Directors

MACLA Staff Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez Executive Director Letetia Rodriguez Director of Operations Joey Reyes Curator of Engagement and Dialogue Natalia Medina NuĂąez Executive Assistant Nixa Sanchez Individual Donor Coordinator Sharon Benitez Performing Arts Engagement Coordinator Damian Kelly Visual Arts Engagement Coordinator Carla Paredes Curatorial Intern Ambar Gonzalez Curatorial Intern

Elizabeth Blancas The Future is...

2018

Ruben Escalante Digital Media Youth Education Coordinator

Officers

Members

Nicholas Jimenez DMC Studio Program Assistant

Victor Espino Chair

Richard Contreras

Jarvis Subia DMC Studio Poetry Instructor Earl Leal Technical Assistant Mark Nagel Facility Maintenace Dolores Barrera Facility Maintenance

Consuelo Cervantes Vice Chair Bob Brownstein Treasurer Barbara Goldstein Secretary Veronica Juarez At-Large

Angelique Gaeta Norma Garcia Cynthia Guerrero Linda Mendez-Ortiz Jonathan Noble Elier Peraza Alexander Ramon Margaret Tamisea

MACLA is an inclusive contemporary arts space grounded in the Chicano/Latino experience that incubates new visual, literary, and performance art in order to engage people in civic dialogue and community transformation.

Pilar AgĂźero-Esparza Skin Tone Parquet 2018