AQUI ESTAMOS Y NO NOS VAMOS called for women of color artists whose works explored the questions: Does your artwork give voice to a resistance, yours and/or something larger? Does your art counter the hateful rhetoric currently circulating, if so how? Does your artwork offer a creative vision as we find ourselves struggling under a fascist state? Does your art provide a path to healing? The exhibit includes artists from Texas, Florida, California and the borderlands of Mexico/USA. The show gathers art from emerging artists such as Erika Bolta and Maritza Torres and displays them alongside distinguished artists such as Ester Hernandez and Liliana Wilson. Through installations, sculptures, textiles, music, paintings, photographs and more the exhibition gives viewers an insight on social and personal strife and piercing visions of the present and a futuro con Esperanza. Peace and justice, Jessica Gonzales, Esperanza Peace & Justice Center Eliza Perez, Esperanza Peace & Justice Center Rebel Mariposa About the Curator Rebel Mariposa has been active in the performance and visual art world in Tejas, Califas and Mexico for over 15 years. Rebel has curated many shows specializing in emerging artists and new works. She most recently co-curated a show at R Space with Sarah Castillo of Lady Base Gallery by Arlene Mejorado titled Califas Lens, San Anto Heart: Outside Looking In. The exhibit won a 2016 FotoSeptiembre USA Choice Award for Thematic Development, Production, Curation, & Presentation, and Branding Integration & Execution.
Thank you for joining the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center as we continue celebrating our 30th Anniversary throughout 2017! 2
Exhibit Artists Alejandra Casas Alicia Galvan Alina Rayas AnaKaren Ortiz Varela Anel Flores Katrina Gorman Brenda Piña Kriss Abigail Paredes Carmen Cartiness Laura Lopez Johnson Laura Rios Yohualtlahuiz Caroline Arteaga Liliana Wilson Delilah Montoya Lisa Sanna Elida Bocanegra Magdalena Mata Elva Salinas Margarita Benavides Elva Treviño Marisela Barrera Ericka Bolta Maritza Torres Erika Casasola Mary Agnes Rodriguez Ester Hernandez Michelle Rodriguez Esther Guajardo Nansi Guevara Giomara Bazaldúa Patricia Ruiz-Bayón Graciela S. Sanchez Patricia de la Garza Iris Rodriguez Pearl Sanchez Juanita Luna Lawhn Priscilla Carrion Katherine Jenings Avila Raquel Centeno Sarah Castillo Suzy Gonzalez Tamara Becerra Valdez Teri Borrego Yvonne Herrera-Rendon 3
“Though we tremble before uncertain futures may we meet illness, death and adversity with strength, may we dance in the face of our fears.” - Gloria E. Anzaldúa Alejandra Sol Casas El Corazón
Digital Photography 11 x 17 inches Like a round of Lotería, Mexican migrants find that leaving their home country for the United States is also a game of chance. In the most popular version of the game developed by Don Clemente, the back of the cards contain riddles. Printed in black and white on the back of El Corazón, the card reads: “No me extrañes corazón, que regreso en el camión.” “Do not miss me, sweetheart, I’ll be back by bus.” In Mexican-American culture, the Aztecs would extract the hearts of enemies in sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli and Xochipilli. In the Cristero War, prayers were offered to the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary as Catholics defended their faith against secularists and the anticlerical policies being imposed by the Mexican government. Frida Kahlo, for one, used anatomical hearts in her imagery to depict the intensity of her tribulations and physical pain. Lest we forget that the heart is also a symbol of love, as we’ve often heard people use the term, “corazón” or “corazoncito” as a term of endearment, heard in songs such as Pedro Infante’s “Amorcito Corazón.” That’s not to say that El Corazón can only be used as a symbol of Xicanismo or solely by those of Mexican descent. Currently we are feeling the vibrations in the movements of resistance against the threat of a fascist ruler carried as a collective heartbeat through nuestra gente. Our drive and ability to rebel is carried within our veins bleeding out into the world to protest racism, xenophobia, bigotry, homophobia, and to stand up for the value of education and respect for our tierra. I believe El Corazón is what and who we are: nuestras creencias, la sangre heredada por nuestros antepasados que arrastra en su corriente nuestras tradiciones, dichas y maldiciones, and it beats to the rhythm of our passions directing us to our destiny.
About the Artist
Alejandra Sol Casas is a writer and photographer from San Antonio, TX. Alejandra was born of an immigrant mother and raised in a home of three generations de mujeres independientes. Her work subtly covers topics such as identity nepantilism and is largely inspired by her family’s migration from Mexico and history in mariachi music. Alejandra recently earned her Bachelor’s in Communications with an emphasis in Photojournalism at Texas A&M-San Antonio. While in college, she also studied English and Art. 4
Alicia Galvan
Mi hija y el río/My Daughter and the River Mixed Media 15 x 12 x 2 ½ inches
My art piece is about correlation and comparison between the physicality of nature and the emotional response humans have to visual images that inspire the creation of art and writing. Mi hija y el río/My Daughter and the River was inspired by a trip where I accompanied her to a conference at which she would be one of the professional speakers at a medical symposium. Early one morning, while she slept, I had breakfast by a large window with a view of an immense fast moving river that flowed by our hotel. It was still dark and the moon still visible highlighting the engorged flow of water. I was struck then by memories of her birth and her journey since, she and I still bound by the river of blood at her birth, and now found ourselves alongside another river. The stream of her experience and my experience, separate yet bound by the fluidity of emotion and the eternal forward moving of time. Inspired, I wrote the poem in Spanish and later translated it to English as I do with most of my work. The memories of the morning lingered and I decided to create a digital art piece based on the poem and guided by my need to visually express my thoughts and emotions.
About the Artist
Primarily a poet, Alicia Zavala Galván has published six collections of poetry, most in a bilingual format. She has translated the Spanish work of other poets such as Julio Cesar Aguilar and Dania Rodriguez Alfonso, and published them through her own small press, Galvart Publishing. One of her more challenging works was to translate English Haiku written by Haiku Poet Michael Moore into Spanish. She has also translated poems by the Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni and the contemporary Cuban poet Carilda Oliver Labra, and the Chilean Teresa Wilms Montt which also includes research for a work in progress on their lives and work. Much of Galván’s activity has centered on the Seventeenth Century Feminist Nun of Colonial Mexico, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. She has translated Sor Juana’s Autodefensa, and written and performed a play about her last days. Galván’s research in this regard has been as an Independent Scholar and a member of Registro Creativo, an affiliate of the Canadian Association of Hispanists. She has also done work as a painter and as an editor and jewelry designer. Her literary and scholarly works in English and Spanish have been presented before popular and academic audiences in the United States, Mexico, and South America.
“I believe that the most important single thing beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare” - Maya Angelou
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Alina Rayas
If Love Was An Artwork Paper/Digital Photo 8 ½ x 11 inches
“If it’s inaccessible to the poor it’s neither radical nor revolutionary”? As bell hooks wrote, “Art can enhance our understanding of what it means to live as free subjects in an unfree world.”
About the Artist
Born into a huge Mexican-American family in El Paso, Texas, our everyday lives did not contain traditional artworks or discussion about them but our lives were full of extraordinary creativity. My grandmother was a profound artist, having 18 children she had to make do with limited resources. She understood the influence of her creativity within her situation and used that power to express her originality and imagination. Creating an experience rich in flavor, color and energy through her cooking, shared history, festiveness, language and humor. Today, I am one of 50 grandchildren and I am continuing the artistry that is grounded in my family. Twitter: @alinabelen_
AnaKaren Ortiz Varela
Mi Centro, Mi Cuenta, Mi Luna
Oil-based color pencils and ink on paper 9 x 9 inches $150.00 In an effort to decolonize (and therefore, heal) I have been teaching myself basic nahuatl. Learning the language of my ancestors has also led me to learn more about the history of my own country and people. Quickly after learning about the significance of the number 13 in regards to the lunar orbit, I wanted to present the organic perfection of Mexica mathematics with a manifestation of the numbers. My illustration practice has frequently centered around the meditative process of pattern, which I’ve paired to circles since 2013. The numbers 7 and 13 are presented in a linear manner, all with the same color. 91, 182, 273, and 364 are represented in clusters of the same color with its individual digits marked by a center mark and outside ring of a different color. The numbers 2, 3, 4, 14, 21, 28 are represented in large circles with no color markings at the center.
About the Artist
AnaKaren Ortiz Varela was born en la Ciudad de México, grew up in between Tepoztlan and el mercado Adolfo Lopez Mateos in Morelos; was not raised by a single mother, but a lot of them. She began existing in English at 15, when she moved to northern-most México, San Antonio, Tejas. Four years before her American Exile she lived in Acapulco, Guerrero, where she learned the tradition of Jueves Pozolero and la tradición costeña of speaking of yourself (and everything else) in second 6
person. At 16, she overstayed her tourist visa. At 18, she began working with ceramics. At 19, she realized she had been writing poetry all her life. At 20, she cofounded La Liga Zine, a NALAC 2016 Fund for the Arts grantee publication with an all female Latina staff. At 21, she got a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. As a Mexican undocumented gay immigrant, her work deals with the poetics in the crisis, the healing aspect of revolution, decolonization as a lifestyle, and the friction between el pueblo y el gobierno. Email: ana@laligazine.com
Anel I. Flores
Herida Abierta
Serigraph and Mixed Media 24 x 36 inches $1,300.00 This work is part of a series titled “Herida Abierta” that talks about the coming alive again from the earth after human trafficking. Trafficking in the Labor and Sex industry is one of the leading crimes against immigrants, women and children in the United States, and yet it is not being talked about. Women and children escaping violence and poverty from Central America and Mexico come on foot to the United States in hopes of freedom, work, peace, food and education for their children. On their journey, a large majority are tricked into trading work at restaurants, bars, homes in exchange for a safe passage to the US. Trafficking goes unnoticed by ICE officers, police, US corporations, weapon dealers, etc. because cheap labor and sex trade illegally benefits their business and professional dealings – all in the name of greed. My work here presents the dichotomy of both the woman’s spirit rising from the “herida abierta” and the “herida” of their experience.
About the Artist
Anel I. Flores, author of Lambda Literary Award nominated novel Empanada: A Lesbiana Story en Probaditas, was born and raised in South Tejas. Flores’ fiction can be found in Entre Guadalupe y Malinche with UT Press, Queer Spiritualities, Raspa Magazine, El Mundo Zurdo, Sinister Wisdom 74, the Lodestar Quarterly, the Pitkin Literary Review, and others. Her plays have been produced in national venues including, the National Museum of Mexican Art, MACLA, MECA, the MACC, to name a few. Alumni of Squaw Valley Community of Writers, the Macondo Writers Workshop, the NALAC Leadership Institute, and Leadership San Antonio 39, her awards include the Ancinas Award at Squaw Valley, The NALAC Fund for the Arts, The Acción Women Inspiring Women Award, the Mentorship/Leadership Award from the NPN, 1st Place in Cooper-Hewitt Community Design, Valedictorian of ABLDP, and the Constance Allen Educator Award. In addition to 7
her writing, Flores is an award winning visual artist. While not working in the arts, Flores uses her creativity and skill to run her boutique Real Estate company A&N Realty and contributes to her community as the Co-Founder and Community Input Director of LezRideSA. In addition to Flores’ work as a community artist, activist and author, she worked 15 years as an educator and administrator in San Antonio’s public schools and community colleges; and she continues teaching community workshops. Flores is working on forthcoming novel Cortinas de Lluvia and balancing all of this with her chula, Erika and their hijas, Jessica y Klarissa. Find Anel at AnelFlores.com and ANRealty.net. You can also friend her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/aneliflores), Twitter (@aneliflores), or Instagram (@aneliflores).
ARTREVIEW’S 2016 POWER 100 LIST OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE CONTEMPORARY ART WORLD” WAS 32% WOMEN, 70% WHITE, 16% ASIAN, 7% LATINX, 5% BLACK, AND 3% MIDDLE EASTERN. 1 Brenda Pina Shhhhh...
Photography 11 x 14 inches $350.00 This piece represents keeping quiet as women. We have been told to keep quiet and nothing comes about fighting back to be heard. They try and keep us quiet about rape, when we are called sluts and whores, when we are cheated on, miscarriages, abortions, and especially losing our rights. This image is channeling all of that and then some.
Depression
Photography 11 x 14 inches $350.00 “Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” -Stella Adler This self portrait was captured during a one of the most difficult times in my life. I believe everyone goes or will go through depression at least once in their lifetime. With everything happening in this world, politics, global warming, lack of education and the arts, the fight for women’s health care and healthcare in general, depression is going to be coming out even more so. I fight through mine through my art and the love from my daughter, family and friends. This image is showing the fight of my depression.
About the Artist
When Brenda held her father’s 1970 Minolta film camera, she knew photography was her calling. Her mother enrolled her at a local community college at the age of 7 during the summer to experience developing in the darkroom for the first time. At the age of 17, she moved from her hometown, San Antonio, Texas, to San Francisco, 8
CA, to continue her studies in Fine Art photography. She has graduated with an AA and a BFA in Fine Art Photography from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. Her photography has been in several galleries throughout the United States. She is most recognized for her work called The Body, which is a series of images captured through abstraction and form. She has freelanced for MySA, SA Current, and nonprofit organizations, has volunteered as a photographer for The Special Olympics, and is currently a photographer for Muze Collective Magazine. Above all else she is a devoted mother. Instagram: B.Pineapple | Website: www.pina.photo E-mail: Brendapineapple@gmail.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/pinaphotography
FROM THE 16–19TH CENTURIES, WOMEN WERE BARRED FROM STUDYING THE NUDE MODEL, WHICH FORMED THE BASIS FOR ACADEMIC TRAINING AND REPRESENTATION. 2 Carmen Cartiness Johnson I AM
Acrylic on canvas 60 x 36 inches $1500.00 This piece is about the life changes that women go through; women are in constant bloom.
HOW TO PLAY A GRAY HORN Acrylic on paper 18 x 24 inches $250.00
About the Artist
Self-taught artist, had several solo shows and one residency at Rutgers Center for Print and Paper in 2005. During my residency I worked with the Master Printer and together we created “The Get Together,” an adaptation of my original painting “Chit Chat and Apple Martinis.” “The Get Together” was acquired by the Library of Congress in 2006 and is in the collections of nine museums around the state of New Jersey. My piece “Too Many Cooks” was published in “Looking Out, Looking In,” an interpersonal textbook by Adler/Proctor/Towne. In addition, Pomegranate Press has published note cards using four images of my work. In 2011, I exhibited eighteen pieces of work at the Charles A. Wright African American History Museum in Detroit. In September 2012, the University Health Systems of San Antonio purchased seven works for their new downtown facility. In 2015, my commissioned work was installed in The Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas. Website: www.carmencartinessjohnson.com/home
Caroline Arteaga
Peruvian-American #1 Digital Art 12 x 16 inches
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This is a simple piece on identity. As the years progress, as I unlearn the self-hatred brought by assimilation I, ironically, lose one fundamental aspect of a Latina immigrant - my Spanish fluency. Stutters replace sentences. Never has it been this difficult of communicating with my mom. I am two people at once, and I am trying to revive someone whose memories I can’t understand anymore. I hope to depict this person in my piece.
About the Artist
Living between Spanish and English, undocumented and documented, ceviche and hamburgers, my family and I find fulfillment in dichotomies! Though I major in math, I haven’t ruled out a graduate degree in other subjects of interest like astrophysics or immigration law. I will continue writing poetry and designing artwork. It is necessary for me to express myself in the most intimate, yet collective mediums. I see life through patterns, but I experience it in art. Email: arteagacaroline@gmail.com
“Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously.... Writing, knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, someday, somewhere, someone may risk [their] life to read them.” -Edwidge Danticat, “Create Dangerously” Delilah Montoya Pink
Inket on Rag 34 x 42 inches $2000.00
About the Artist
Delilah Montoya is a self-identified Chicana photographer, printmaker, and installation artist, working and living in the U.S. Southwest of New Mexico and Texas. As an activist artist, she poses herself questions about identity, power, land, borders, gender, community, family, that she then explores through her art practice; one that is generally based in series that tell specific stories pointing to larger experiences. Even if she produces a one-off singular work of art, it addresses multiple histories and points of view. One can think of Delilah as an artist/scientist/anthropologist/sociologist/humanist. Her works are both highly cerebral and conceptual on the one hand, and aesthetically dense and psychologically complex on the other. She is an investigator of histories and lives; her primary subject is the human condition through time and territory as expressed through the lens of being a mestiza, a Chicana, someone who claims a hybrid identity and place both in terms of lineage and culture. Born in Texas, raised in the Midwest, she has called New Mexico – the ancestral home of her mother’s family – home for more than thirty years. Its complex ethno-racial, religious, and socio-economic heritage has proved to be a fertile ground for her artistic explorations and collaborations with members of many disparate communities. - Holly Barnet-Sánchez 10
Elida Bocanegra
La Muerte Acecha Acrylic on canvas 16 x 20 inches
The moment we are born we are automatically handed a death sentence. In the Mexican tradition people accept the fact that it is what it is and make light of it by including death symbols in almost everything that we do. “La Muerte Acecha” is based on the Mexican dicho “las apariencias engañan,” or “appearances can be deceiving.” In this peaceful pretty setting, a beautiful lady is doing what she does every day. Everything seems peaceful and perfect, but death is fast approaching... Nothing is what it seems to be.
About the Artist
Elida Bocanegra was born in Ciudad Acuña, México. She recently showed work in the Nasty Women San Antonio Exhibition. She lives and works in San Antonio, TX.
IN THE LIST OF TOP 100 INDIVIDUAL WORKS SOLD BETWEEN 2011-2016, ONLY TWO ARTISTS WERE WOMEN. OF THOSE 100 ARTWORKS, 75 OF THEM WERE CREATED BY JUST 5 MALE ARTISTS. 2 Elva Salinas Sacred Sage
Digital Photography 36 x 42 inches $500.00 The work represents a symbol of spirituality, ceremony, of prayer and hope. My hand represents my human presence on this earth and my connection to spirit. The smoke represent spirit. During this time I am standing for love, peace, and human connection and this is my reminder of my power and strength. I am woman.
Breath of Hope Video
My constant bombardment with social news and conversation about our current political state has reminded me that Breath is cleansing and healing. Acting in Love is important and this piece is my guide to be creative and act from love when I make choices that affect myself and my world.
About the Artist
Elva Maria Salinas is an artist and an artistic educator currently living in San Antonio, TX. Elva grew up in Del Rio, TX, a small town on the U.S./Mexico border, which gave her a unique insight and perspective of both Mexican and American culture. Elva received an M.F.A. in Photography in May 2013 from Texas Woman’s University. 11
Previous to that, she earned a B.F.A. in Photography at The University of the Incarnate Word in 2007. Since 2002, she has dedicated her creative vision to photography and mixed-media arts. Her background in fine art, chemistry and Latin American studies helped solidify a synthesis of artistic experimentation and the study of culture. Such interests underpin her intuitive visual experimentation with mixed-media processes in both traditional/contemporary photography and digital manipulation, accompanied by the investigation of human emotions and relationships in sociocultural contexts. Elva has a record of national exhibition and awards for her Fine Art. Salinas’ most recent work explores cultural dynamics surrounding the identities of Mexican-American women. This work reflects upon the emotional dimensions of personal memories, collected histories, and cultural myths through digital photomontages integrating portraits of Mexican-American cultural icons and individual women. In this work, such imagery seeks to simultaneously deconstruct the origins of cultural ideology, and rebuild cultural ideals as empowering narratives.
OF 590 MAJOR EXHIBITIONS BY NEARLY 70 INSTITUTIONS IN THE U.S. FROM 2007–2013, ONLY 27% WERE DEVOTED TO WOMEN ARTISTS. 2 Elva Treviño Relámpago
Mixed media collage and oil pastels 17 x 27 inches $600.00 This mixed media collage depicts two women, an Amish woman looking back and an indigenous woman at the foreground looking forward at the observer. They are connected by both natural and artificial threads suggesting how the proximity of each of their lives makes them one and the same.
About the Artist
Artist, activist, attorney, Elva Perez Treviño, grew up on Guadalupe Street in the core Westside of San Antonio, TX. She has done public readings of her poetry and prose on both the West and East Coasts. She has published work in Sinister Wisdom, Ikon and the anthology Compañeras. She has had numerous one-person shows of her paintings and has won awards for her work.
Ericka Bolta $olid
Digital print of acrylic on canvas 8 x 8 inches $140.00 Sometimes we only see what’s presented in front of us. We often forget about the last time our lives were over and we were blindsided by our tears, eventually (actually rather quickly) things fell back in place for the better. I convey this idea through this painting with a reminder to stay strong through apparent tough times. 12
LOVEHARD
Digital print of acrylic on canvas 8 x 10 inches $140.00 My art conveys women emotions. This painting represent contradictions of the heart. The rock representing a hardened heart. Yet it’s still a heart, your heart mentally hardens due to pressure. In nature diamonds are known to be formed from pressure. “The very same pressures from my past is what eventually formed into diamonds, which makes me built to last.” There’s beauty in the strength of women.
HEROGAL
Digital print of acrylic on canvas 8 x 10 inches $140.00 I personally believe women (especially women with hues) have extraordinary superpowers. I decided to paint her showing off her unheeded strength. I grew up watching theses women performing miracles every day. By keeping up a household, taking care of children, cooking, being a chauffeur, a tutor, an advisor, and still have time to watch their soaps all in just 24 hours, and wake up and do it all over again. And that’s just the mere basics. I have yet to capture the uncanny woman I would need the biggest of all canvases to try to capture that.
About the Artist
Daughter of musicians, emerging contemporary artist Ericka Bolta creates huge, bold and colorful unapologetic art that loudly display urban feminine rants of girl emotions + love. In 2012, she created COCAJANE, an art brand that boldly speaks to women as a whole. Bolta, 26, was recognized for her artistic talent at an early age when she won an ice cream party for her whole elementary school for drawing ‘The Dream Playground.’ From that moment on she knew art was embedded in her soul. Growing up she experienced creating art with a variety of mixed media from fine acrylic to digital art and photography. Now she practices art using mainly acrylic paints and wishes to start sculpture soon. Her vision is to create the story of ‘girl’ from her own experiences. She hopes to encourage others and spark revolutionary change in the future girl. She’s a native + currently resides in Jax Beach, Florida where she’s putting her self-taught skills into her signature collection soon to be completed summer 2017. Learn more about COCAJANE, the vision + art journey by visiting CocaJane.com and following on social media. Instagram: cocajane || Facebook Page : CocaJane
WORK BY WOMEN ARTISTS MAKES UP ONLY 3–5% OF MAJOR PERMANENT COLLECTIONS IN THE U.S. AND EUROPE, AND 34% IN AUSTRALIAN STATE MUSEUMS. 2 13
Erika A. Casasola Curander@ Healer
Prismacolor and Charcoal on Paper $875.00
Renacid@ Reborn
Ink and Gold Leaf on Paper $575.00
About the Artist
Erika A. Casasola is a Retail Manager and Visuals Specialist for REI San Antonio and Visual Curator for her freelance business Akire. She is passionate about making her surroundings beautiful, peaceful, accessible, fun and diverse. Additionally, she creates works of fine art in charcoal and has exhibited her work in local and statewide art exhibits. As a lesbian mother of two and Curandera, Casasola values the importance in taking care of her family as well as others. She is dedicated to giving back to her community and gives back as the Co-Founder and Chief Corporate Liaison and Treasurer of LezRideSA, as a volunteer at local children’s homes and as a regular volunteer at park clean-ups.
ONLY FIVE WOMEN MADE THE LIST OF THE TOP 100 ARTISTS BY CUMULATIVE AUCTION VALUE BETWEEN 2011-2016.2 Ester Hernandez
La Virgen de Las Calles Giclee from pastel 46 x 34 inches $2000.00
La Virgen de Las Calles honors immigrant women’s entrepreneurial spirit, who with much creativity, perseverance and resourcefulness re-invent themselves in order to provide for a better life for their families.
Wanted
Screenprint 35 ½ x 26 ½ inches $1400.00
Sun Raid
Screenprint 29 x 24 inches $1900.00
About the Artist
Ester Hernandez was born in California’s San Joaquin Valley to a Mexican/Yaqui farm worker family. The UC Berkeley graduate is an internationally acclaimed San Franciscobased visual artist. She is best known for her depiction of Native/Latina women through her pastels, prints and installations. Her work reflects social, political, ecological and 14
spiritual themes. Hernandez has had numerous national and international solo and group shows. Among others, her work is included in the permanent collections of the National Museum of American Art – Smithsonian; Library of Congress; Legion of Honor, San Francisco; National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago; Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, Mexico City; Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM; Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Her artistic and personal archives are housed at Stanford University. Website: www.esterhernandez.com | Email: esterhernandezart@gmail.com
Esther Guajardo
Embroidery Art 12 5-inch embroidery hoops $22.00 each
Resisters/Resist Sign • Resisters Not Silent Brick Wall Fiesta Burro Piñata • Resisters Not Silent Conchas con jarros • La Concha with coffee cup Cafe with 4 jarros • Frida with milagro Frida Take a Lover • Lady of Guadalupe Tonantzin • Nopal Embroidery has long been a therapeutic skill and I do believe it provides a path to healing for these troubling political and social times. My father was a baker as a boy and would tell us stories of the conchas and cochinitos he made. This craft allows the mind to soothe and meditate and create a lovely piece of art.
About the Artist
I am a mixed media artist and I use my Mexican roots to create decorative pieces using fabric, paints, and any items that will enhance my ideas. Email: estgua@satx.rr.com Instagram.com/manosmiasart
Giomara Bazaldúa
Zombie Bazaar Panza Fusion About the Performance Troupe
Zombie Bazaar Panza Fusion is a queer based performance art troupe from San Antonio. Their dance style fuses Belly Dance with their Tejana dance culture to create a new form of dance called Panza Fusion. Combining Belly Dance with cumbia, polka, Ballet Folklórico, fire dance, and Drag, Panza Fusion is a dance style that also creates awareness on social justice issues such as the rights of the LGBTQIA, Womyn’s issues and immigration. 15
Graciela S. Sanchez Tamalada
Woodburning on wooden serving tray $150.00 In my family of six girls and three boys, the girls got to help my mom in making tamales. The kids would play on site. These were fun times. My mom always made us feel special when we did things together!
About the Artist
I was born to a loving couple named Estella Picaso and Manuel Soria. I was the seventh of nine siblings. As children, my mom taught us to make cascarones, sew, crochet, and do crafts. I’m still doing art and crafts. My passion is painting which I can do at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center’s MujerArtes Women’s Clay Cooperative. I feel very accomplished and continue to love the arts.
THOUGH WOMEN EARN HALF OF THE MFAS GRANTED IN THE U.S., ONLY 30% OF ARTISTS REPRESENTED BY COMMERCIAL GALLERIES ARE WOMEN.2 Iris Rodriguez
“La Cultura Nos Cura,” “Mother Earth Is Calling,” and “Abre La Tierra” are
singles from her upcoming cumbia CD fusing conscious lyrics with dance beats. Perfect for any MEChA meeting or quinceañera.
“Makochi Pitentzin” (Que Duerma Mi Niño / Sleep My Baby) “Xikiyehua In Xochitl” (Guarda Esta Flor / Keep this Flower) Traditional lullabies sung in Nahuatl, Spanish, and English
“Return to the Red Road” EP Track 1: “Ce” Set of four medicine songs Track 2: “Ome” Set of four medicine songs
These medicine songs are a mix of traditional, popular, and original songs that are sung in ceremony across the Texas territory. Tezcatlipoca Records produces music of modern Cemanahuac and is an offshoot of Xica Media.
About the Artist
Iris Rodriguez is a digital strategist, multimedia producer, author, musical artist, and poet from San Antonio, Texas. Since 2002, her works have addressed environmental racism/ justice, family detention, decolonization, cultural arts, guerrilla media, womynism and public archives. She is a graduate of the (former) Center for Mexican American Studies at UT Austin, the Racial Justice Communications program by the Praxis Project (National 16
Labor College, Washington, D.C.) as well as the Inter-University Program for Latino Research at George Washington University (Washington, D.C.). In 2009, she was awarded the César E. Chávez “Sí Se Puede” Award by People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources (PODER). In 2015, one of her collaborations, Visions from the Inside, displayed at the United Nations in Geneva for one week. Her upcoming book, Return to the Red Road, is a collection of poetry, art, and stories about her journey through decolonization. Her newly opened musical production house, Tezcatlipoca Records, produces music of modern Cemanahuac.
“I was arrested a number of times. I never thought in terms of fear. I thought in terms of justice.” – Emma Tenayuca Juanita Luna Lawhn Eye of A Needle Installation Piece 30 x 48 inches
After reading the Call for Artists, l was inspired to create an installation piece that responds to the abusive rhetoric that is/was disseminated by Trump during the 2016 election campaign. While the current abusive rhetoric launched toward U.S. and international communities is nothing new, a glimpse at history affirms the resiliency of our humanity – a resiliency that is often nurtured and sustained by historical and communal memory. History demonstrates that acts of social and political consciousness via movements of protest demonstrate that when women and men come together for the good of the community, national, racial, and sexual orientation walls frequently crumble. I used the sewing motif as a metaphor to illustrate that a Wound, a tear, is often healed by the act of pulling a thread through edges to bring them together to heal a violence that has cause such an herida. It is imperative to note that all genders have made use of the needle to create, repair, and heal; for when one is wounded, it is not uncommon for one’s humanity to surface. I used a female vintage dress form as the focus of my project. This 17
form is on top of a circular base which helps the project to provoke several cultural and historical dimensions: the first cultural dimension is the mestizaje of our community; the circular table base illuminates the rich history of Mexican women labor movements in San Antonio during the 20th century; and the vintage dress form, placed in the center of the circular table, models two aprons which are embellished with quilted photographs of women involved in the San Antonio Laundry Strike, the Pecan Strike, the Finck Cigar Strike and others labor activities of Mexican/Mexican American/Latina women. In addition, the entire project is embellished with vintage handwork such as embroidery, lace, and/or quilt remnants that emphasize the pink thread – metaphorically evoking the values of Code Pink. The goal of this project is to illustrate that we must be vigilant of abuse on communities – physical as well as emotional. While we cannot control the actions of others, we are in control of self-determination, as is evident by the history of so many women who have resisted victimization and who have fought for what is right and just.
About the Artist
Juanita Luna Lahwn is a Professor of English at San Antonio College. She is a literary critic, and translates research from Spanish to English focusing on journalists of El Mexico de Afuera and the Labor Movement in San Antonio.
Katherine Jenings Avila Unapologetic
Worsted yarn, crocheted banner 12 x 89 inches The inspiration for this piece began with a class assignment, in which we were to create a fake artist and through them create a work of art. The result of the assignment lead to the creation of Girls* Who Can Fight, a collective of artists who use art, activism, and community to provide resources to womyn, gender non-conforming, and other marginalized people over topics related to Women’s rights, Queer rights, Reproductive rights. While the collective does not exist, the idea of a collaborative community highlighting the existence and achievements of marginalized people inspired me to search for the people in my life who would be considered a member of the group. With the crocheted banner from the original assignment, I have set off to document G.W.C.F. members using it as a symbol for their personal interpretation.
About the Artist
Originally born in Houston, Texas, Katherine Jenings now is based out of Austin, Texas, where she is a full-time student at the University of Texas at Austin pursuing a degree in Visual Art Studies. Initial interests in art began with photography, both film and digital; however, now she employs various mediums, including transmedia, textiles, and print. Drawing from personal experiences and human encounters, Katherine works to communicate and express themes of identity, conflict, as well as social and personal relationships. Presently, she is working on expanding her subject matter beyond self, into an evolving and inclusive array of subjects through her current project, Girls* Who Can Fight. Instagram: @katjenings and @toiletaisle. My email is katherine.jenings@yahoo.com. 18
The arts are one of the best avenues for synthesizing different ideas, and for allowing every viewpoint, tradition, and innovation to have a place at the table. The arts aren’t a matter of either/or, where one person wins, and the other loses, where if the conditions are one way, then they cannot be the other way. Instead, they’re both/and.” - Jane Chu, NEA chairman Katrina Gorman Joy
Mixed media - fabric, rope, acrylic paint 32 x 48 inches $930.95 When everything seems to be going wrong, “Can you still stay in ‘Joy’?” was the repeating message I received before the inspiration of Joy wanted to express itself in this canvas piece. Ever have a time when it feels like everything you try just isn’t working the way you planned? This is when the message of staying in “Joy” seemed to catch my attention through interacting with people. I would hear “Stay in Joy” throughout my day. So, I realized my next creation was to make “Joy.” When creating this piece, I felt that calm and peace knowing if I could find a way to stay grateful for all things, even when I didn’t see anything working, it is working.
Watching Thoughts
Mixed media - fabric, rope, and watercolor paint 18 x 24 inches $560.00 Whatever any of us can put our focus and attention on grows. What if you could actually see the thoughts you have turn into things? Being an artist, this is what happens. My thoughts turn into art. When being focused on healing thoughts, thoughts of empowerment, confidence and love, thoughts turn into things. When being focused on thoughts of fear, this is what happens also. Have you seen what your thoughts are turning into?
About the Artist
Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Katrina Gorman showed a great interest in art at an early age. As her artistic abilities grew, she then learned she had a new passion – in addition to drawing – when she received her first sewing machine at 9 years old. After sewing became an everyday expression and art grew into a passion, she decided not to pursue art as a career when she received an art scholarship. Instead, she went to college and earned a degree in Early Childhood Education, where she taught children under 5 years of age, and later moved to the insurance industry where she spent 10 years of service. In 2009, many life events happened and the love of drawing and sewing merged into a new exciting expression for her called Textile Design Art. Soon after her new discovery, she had her first fine art gallery showing and moved to San Antonio, TX, where she continues to pursue her passion today as her full-time commitment. Some featured exhibitions and 19
juried art events Katrina has shown her work include: Solo Exhibition featured at The Carver, San Antonio, TX, 2015; King William Fair 2016; HGTV show “That’s Clever,” 2008; and many more. To see more of Gorman’s work, feel free to go to her website at www.katrinagormandesigns.com
“Writing for me is thinking, and it’s also a way to position myself in the world, particularly when I don’t like what’s going.” - Toni Morrison Kriss Abigail Paredes Bilingual
Spoken Word Bilingual is a spoken word piece about navigating not only two languages, but two cultures. I am a Salvadoran immigrant who grew up in a very American city with very traditional Latino parents. That constant push and pull has shaped much of my identity.
About the Artist
A Fine Art/Performance Photographer from Chicago who also works in Spoken Word and Essays. She moved to the outskirts of Boerne, Texas, to raise goats, pursue a culinary career and write.
Laura López Praderas
Acrylic paint on calabash 5 x 7 x 7 inches The inspiration for this piece comes from the journey of the calabash on which the wildflowers are painted. Brought from Jalisco, Mexico, by my parents, this calabash permeated a border that marks a separation from the place in which we grew up – a place that resurfaces both fond memories and a constant sense of longing. Thought to be of Asian or African roots, the use of the calabash, or bottle gourd, varies across cultures, even within Mexico. Like the mixed origins of the plant species, ‘Praderas’ is a tribute to the many transformations that occur across space and time.
Tres pájaros Toh
Acrylic paint on calabash 13.5 x 8 x 8 inches The Toh birds pay homage to the natural magnificence of their native Yucatán peninsula. These birds dwell in caves and cenotes, often reserving their beauty for unanticipated appearances, perhaps like those of us who choose to remain, survive, and thrive in a country in which you cannot always afford to make yourself be seen. 20
About the Artist
In her debut exhibition, Laura López offers an homage to her family and their immigration journey through a representation of Mexico’s natural landscape. In Tres pájaros Toh and Tres praderas, she explores the synthesis between natural and synthetic mediums – her vibrant and naturalistic painting style often surrendering to the composition prompted by the calabashes’ curves and surface. In her works, she aims to uplift her family’s memories and knowledge, honoring the experiences that help root them in family, community, and the land. Laura López is a self-taught artist currently living in San Antonio, TX. Email: L.Lopez7751@gmail.com
LESS THAN 4% OF THE ARTISTS IN THE MODERN ART SECTION OF NEW YORK’S METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ARE WOMEN, BUT 76% OF THE NUDES ARE FEMALE.2
Laura “Yohualtlahuiz” Rios-Ramirez and Iris Rodriguez (Yacatsol feat. 4Rios of Calmeca Skwad) Abre La Tierra - Standing with Two Rivers Camp Music Video
Yacatsol is a border-crossing, multilingual, decolonial, “cura” musical art project on Tezcatlipoca Records created by Iris Rodriguez This collaborative piece combined the musical visions, sounds and voices of two Xicanas Xingonas working transnationally to musically dismantle colonization through digital resistance. The lyrics to this song were originally written as a ceremonial song for Peace and Dignity Journeys 2016: Run for the Seeds, transcontinental spiritual run that carries the prayer staffs of indigenous people simultaneously running from Alaska and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina to the final gathering of nations in Panama. The video portion was added and the lyrics were remixed into a cumbia to raise awareness of The Two Rivers Camp in West Texas where Water Protectors have organized and executed Direct Actions against the Trans-Pecos Pipeline. This is a digital offering to document and fuel indigenous led movements protecting Mother Earth! 21
About the Artist
Laura “Yohualtlahuiz” Rios-Ramirez is a performance artist and community organizer in central Texas. She has developed customized curriculum for workshops and classes, written lectures, and created projects that engage participants in connecting ancestral knowledge to modern culture. Her canon of youth-based and culturally relevant programs includes elements of Hip Hop, Mexica, and Earth-based culture as a vehicle for empowerment. Her recent work focuses on demystifying the legacies of Mexican indigenous practices and beliefs through the amalgamation of music, language, and art inspired by her journey in Hip Hop and traditional indigenous dance.
Liliana Wilson
Involuntary Journey
20 x 20 inches Color pencil and acrylic on paper
The House That Was No More 7 ½ x 10 inches Color pencil and acrylic on paper $400.00
My images come from the subconscious. Many of the figures I create appear in ‘other-world’ environments: their outward composure in direct contrast to their inner turmoil. Realities collide on multiple levels as beauty emanates from the subjects. Often my compositions represent single moments in the lives of individuals that serve as metaphors for those lives. Recently my work has shifted to incorporate spiritual aspects of the universe and its surrounding beauty as necessary components of our human experience.
About the Artist
Liliana Wilson was born in Valparaíso, Chile, and began drawing at the age of eight. She went on to study law at the Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile. In 1977, she visited the United States and subsequently settled in Austin, Texas. She studied drawing at Austin Community College, and painting at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. She has exhibited throughout the United States, Mexico, Argentina, and Italy. Her later work represents images of immigrants and refugees transitioning into unknown worlds. A book on her work called Ofrenda was published by Texas A & M Press in 2015, edited by Dr Norma E. Cantu, and includes is a collection of writings on Liliana’s work by Gloria E. Anzaldua, Antonia Castañeda, Alicia Gaspar de Alba and others.
Lisa Sanna
Deconstruct Their Ways of Keeping Us Visual poetry on canvas 16 x 20 inches 22
This piece speaks to the ways society has conditioned women to see each other as competition, as threats, as the enemy. This piece serves as a call to deconstruct this conditioning, and instead embody women who empower and lift each other up in the face of oppressive attempts to objectify and hold women down.
About the Artist
Lisa Sanna is a Puerto Rican/Italian writer living in San Antonio, Texas. She writes about the themes of love, loss, identity, and healing. She is currently working on a collection of poetry titled “Dear You” that should be self-published by mid 2017. Instagram: thelisasanna | E-Mail: sanna_lisa@yahoo.com
Magdalena Mata
Journaling Mama #momswhojournal
Journal paper, mixed media: watercolor, acrylic, pencil, pen, marker, ink Various Dimensions I take pen, marker, stubby crayons, watercolor or whatever else I find laying around the house and sit for a few minutes to document my journey in Motherhood. Nothing is scripted or planned out; it all comes from my heart and emotions as I witness the lives of two humans grow everyday from the love my Husband and I share. My creative expression and writings are my self-care rituals and my journey to self love.
About the Artist
I have always used a journal of some kind since I was a teenager to express my emotions and daily experiences, but since becoming a Mother, I have taken to art journaling as a way of practicing self-care and self-love. I am a teacher, wife, and Mother of two littles that I hope will one day see my art and writings as part of their life story.
Margarita Benavides Life’s Journey Oils on canvas 48 x 60 inches $5000.00
Inspired by a general love of trees and a need to express how their roots to the land intertwine with the roots of the generations that have grown beneath its shade and shelter. How these moment of nature offer inflection on faith, love, and a constant need to grow through every season. The beautiful connections between land and people shown to be sturdy and deep.
About the Artist
I have always drawn and painted. I graduated from Texas A&M University-Kingsville with a degree in Art Education. I have been told that I am an emotional painter. Life is my inspiration; every sunrise fuels my drive to capture a fragment of nature’s daily masterpieces. I paint in landscapes, still life and abstracts. I paint quickly always trying to capture the ever elusive light. My fleeting inspirations print images on my impressionistic 23
mind, transcending to free brush strokes, finding hidden colors among the hues. My subconscious drifts to a reminiscent nostalgia as if brush and paint are a time machine. It is with no complexity or scientific method that my emotions are expressed, not in simple or enriched words, but in colors of my soul heard by my heart. It is my hope that my works will inspire you to find beauty in what we dismiss day by day as mundane, whether it is a pile of autumn leaves, a nestled church in a deep forest, or a cowboy on horseback admiring his cattle under the Texas sky. Margarita’s Studio: 107 Long Star Blvd. Open by appointments. Every second Saturday from 6PM to 10PM there is an event open to the public. Facebook: MagaliArtwork7
Marisela Barrera
No Xingen Con Mi Cuerpo/ GARGOYLES ABOVE YANAGUANA AWAIT REVIVAL: A MEXI-CON TALE OF LUST Poetry performance
Part testimonio, part stand-up, part grito – this performance text features work developed in creative writing workshops while pursuing my graduate degrees. The common denominator in my writing and theater work is cultural preservation. “No Xingen Con Mi Cuerpo” has inherent political themes of citizenship, border relations, and challenges to traditional gender roles. My characters are inspired from urban legend and rooted in the very mythos of the South Texas terrain. The female protagonists are Mestizas. In my stories, Chicana identity is revealed through physical appearance and a hyper-focused modality of feminist discourse. I have previously used the same title, “No Xingen Con Mi Cuerpo,” in a short piece that played at Jump-Start about five years ago, but this text is entirely new; only the title remains the same. Please visit www.mariselabarrera.com for more work samples.
About the Artist
Marisela Barrera creates Tex-Mex stories on stage and in print. She is a genre fluid writer, with over twenty-five published essays, and a member of the Macondo Writers’ Workshop. She has directed over fifty plays, in various venues: from street corners and cantinas to San Antonio’s Tobin Center. She has performed in Latino cultural centers in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Barrera worked as Artistic Director with Cara Mía Theatre Co. before joining the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center as Theater Director in 2002. She now teaches writing at Our Lady of the Lake University. She has a BFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University and received her MA and MFA degrees from the Lake in Creative Writing, Literature, and Social Justice in May 2017. She was recently awarded a Fund for the Arts Grant from the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture for her new collection of short stories, “Ruby Reds, Big Birds y Burras.” Barrera is currently directing “Yemaya’s Belly” for Cara Mía and will be performing “Tejana Trilogy” at JumpStart Theater in June and “Ruby Reds, Big Birds, and Burras” at the Guadalupe in August.
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GARGOYLES ABOVE YANAGUANA AWAIT REVIVAL: A MEXI-CON TALE OF LUST By Marisela Barrera Hanging by riverside Mi chimuela saca tu pride Tu waste water I spit down my throat clit Waiting for rain to suck down my drain You’ll never survive down my waistline My mouth: I leave open for you. Stuck in cement I claim no lament I am your Tower of Life A grito stuck in time Do you know I loathe lanchas that drift down my soft gift You get a picture of my foot After centuries of soot I have no other XXX selfies to spare The tourists have taken my last bit of air They want and want and take Every bit-a one of them a fake Don’t they see here I breathe? Don’t they care that I grieve? A sexy game of goth love Salt wound round my teta nub Look-a here a hero without coon skin Drink down your colonial gin
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In pearl stables that claim Rupee, peso, dollar, the same You claim my land while the white man’s band Plays a Czechian polka jam Sabes que? They’re gonna put a plaque with my name So you know where I came A historical marker’s the same but still the deed be a shame Look-a me. Paint my picture. You com-modify my culture and substitute with a fixture Send your E-vite to my G-mail and I will RSVP I confirm attendance. Made from the limestone of nuestra tierra – Pero you treat my like a perra The banda is mine. Yanaguana’s my rhyme. You no like my Spanish? I’ll hit you with my savage Soy Mexi-Con No hunky punk Soy pura gárgola a Tex-Mex gothic chola
VISIT [WWW.MAKERS.COM/MOMENTS/HISTORY-TERMWOMEN-COLOR] TO WATCH A VIDEO OF LORETTA ROSS ON HOW THE TERM “WOMEN OF COLOR” CAME TO BE. 26
Maritza Torres
Cactus Face No. 1 Ink on paper 11 x 14 inches $190.00
Cactus Face No. 2 Ink on paper 18 x 24 inches $600.00
“Cara de Nopal,” a slang term that can be translated to “Cactus Face.” When growing up I was taught that it was something to be proud of to have dark skin and hair, that it was unique and beautiful. I also knew that cactus was part of the Aztec legend of the founding of Mexico. Because of this “Cara de Nopal” was something that was said around me with pride and as a term of endearment. After speaking about what the term means with other Latinos I was surprised to find that over and over my perfect term was soiled. When my friends have heard or said it, it has been used as a weapon or a dis: ‘Look at that cara de nopal, they can’t even speak Spanish...’ With this work I would like to take the sting out of this term and ask why when we are already stereotyped by others that we want to also create a hierarchy within our own culture. My mission is to create an image that will change our minds about what it means to have a “Cara de Nopal.” 27
Blue No. 1
Acrylic on canvas 16 x 20 inches $400.00
About the Artist
Maritza Torres is best known for her graphic style and portrayal of the empowered woman, connecting strongly with women of color and those that fight gender norms. The focus of her work becomes more clear as she grows as an artist, with themes that explore the feeling of otherness a chicana/chicano deals with in the group of works entitled “Cactus Face.” Torres grew up as the eldest daughter of a large Mexican-American Mormon family. In 2001, she moved to Los Angeles to study at FIDM and graduated with an Associate’s Degree. In 2010, she began her art career in earnest. Along with being featured at Urban Arts in July of 2016, Maritza was given a warm welcome by the San Antonio art community with her first ever solo show entitled Bleeding Heart which had a featured article in the SA Current. Hosted by Pan Dulce and promoted by St. Sucia – a local zine which features the piece Lookin For Change as the cover art of their 2nd issue, which has recently been added to the Chicano Studies syllabus at UC Santa Barbara. Torres is currently working on a new group of work for her next solo exhibition, this time in the heart of the historically Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights at Espacio 1839 coming up in April.
WORK BY WOMEN ARTISTS MAKES UP ONLY 3–5% OF MAJOR PERMANENT COLLECTIONS IN THE U.S. AND EUROPE, AND 34% IN AUSTRALIAN STATE MUSEUMS.2 Mary Agnes Rodriguez Resistencia/Resistance
Mixed Media - acrylic on canvas, acrylic and markers on cardboard 35 x 47 inches $400.00
About the Artist
Rodriguez is an established multimedia artist based in her hometown, San Antonio, Texas. Her work documents political events, while empowering all segments of the community, especially young people. Depictions of the Westside, the city’s historically Mexican quadrant, include overarching themes of activism, peace and social justice, and include portraits of iconic figures that embody these principles. Many of these themes can also be seen in her mural work like “Mis Palabras, Mi Poder” (Burleson Elementary) and “Stained Glass Mosaic Mural Para Herbolaría La India.” Rodriguez’s work has also been shown in major 7 exhibitions, including Cheech Marin’s “Chicano Now: American Expressions” and “Portrait of Xicano Conscience: The Great Judge Albert Peña, Jr.” She has also exhibited at Texas Women’s Museum (Dallas), the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, Centro Cultural Aztlán, Gallista Gallery and 1906 Gallery. 28
Michelle Rodriguez Awakening
Micron pens on paper 8 ½ x 11 inches $180.00 I wanted to move beyond the idea of female empowerment as an exclusively sexually liberating movement without a focus on the spirit within. As we release the significance of physical pleasures and worldly suffering, we are reminded to look within and acknowledge a far higher form of existence. While still honoring the beauty of the feminine, it was necessary not to fetishize the sacred nature, which has been largely objectified. It was my goal to balance the discrete state of this physical plane with the enigmatic stage beyond.
Mandala Soul
Micron pens on paper 6 ½ x 6 ½ inches $150.00 This piece came about at the end of an incredibly painful and intense separation from an abusive relationship. While I was learning to reclaim myself and honor what had been mistreated for so long, I was reading a book on the different stages people go through psychologically after traumatic events. It wasn’t until after I completed this piece that I recognized several different forms told the story of different places I found myself in until I reached a state of completion. When I bared my soul out on paper like this I could recognize just how beautiful, complete, and resilient we all are despite even the most challenging of situations we allow ourselves to get caught up in.
Sovereignty
Prismacolor pencils on paper 9 x 12 inches $220.00 I wanted to create a space where I not only claimed my identity, but I merged it with the new direction I was taking with my art. I refuse to feel ashamed because of the caricatures of my heritage. I refuse to feel like I’m worth less because I don’t look like the traditional standard of beauty. My culture is beautiful and a very unique part of my journey. We are all beautiful and worthy of love, acceptance, and a chance to transform beyond whatever expectations and limitations we place on ourselves. This self portrait is reclaiming the vibrant background we as Chicanxs hold while acknowledging that we are but one of many diverse and infinite facets to a larger, divine energy.
About the Artist
Michelle is a proud Chicana artist from the Rio Grande Valley. Her works utilize the female figure to explore the metaphysical and themes of transformation and spirituality. Taking inspiration from surrealist and visionary artists, each piece is born through a journey of self-discovery and reclaiming of identities both physical and non-corporeal. 29
Nansi Guevara Virgin Pleasure
Embroidery on fabric, bordado 32 x 28 inches $500.00 ‘Muxerista patterns’ is a series of works that explores feminism from our domestic homes. La costura is a passed down artform and tradition deriving from weaving: it is an artform we practice in our homes and also a maquiladora-effect skillset that is strongly present in the border region of the US and Mexico. The medium of the piece references our labor and the mujerismo that we develop as Latinx/women, fighting the patriarchy we first face in our homes.
About the Artist
Nansi Guevara is a Xicana artist and community organizer that was born and raised on the Texas/Mexico border. Her work is at the core of using her border and rasquache sensibilities to create decolonial public artwork alongside communities. She holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the University of Texas, spent one year in Mexico City on a Fulbright, and completed her Master’s in Arts in Education at Harvard University. She is currently living and working in Brownsville, Texas. Website: https://nansiguevara.com
Patricia de la Garza
Todas tenemos ángeles
Prismacolor pencil on paper 18 x 13 inches $400.00 Nuestras seres queridos nos acompañan siempre desde otros planos.
About the Artist
I was born in Melchor Múzquiz, Coahuila, México, but grew up in Monterrey, Nuevo León. I was a quiet child who investigated things by asking many questions. I loved playing and pretending using simple objects like buttons or spools of thread. I also loved to create stories with my dolls who at times were the victims of my experimentation. My studies took place with the nuns, public school and private universities leading to a degree in Graphic Design. I came to San Antonio in 1995 where I had the greatest trauma of my life when I lost my best friend, Alma. Art has led me to a road of recovery and growth. I have learned to trust the future again and have recreated my life thanks to family, friends and the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center’s MujerArtes Women’s Clay Cooperative that has comforted me in its magical space. 30
Patricia Ruiz-Bayon Fight for Peace II Linocut 16 x 20 inches S250.00
This piece is part of the series of the same name I, II, III. Given the situation in the border, the series deals with violence and the need for peace. This one has the mothers grieving for the loss of migrant children.
About the Artist
Patricia Ruiz-Bayon is a multimedia, inter-trans-multidisciplinary, activist artist. She lives and works in the US-Mexico border Brownsville-Matamoros. In 1997-99 the artist received an MFA at the University of Michigan, and in 1996 an MS in Art from Texas A&M University-Kingsville. In 1980-81 she studied in Poznan, Poland, at the State Art University with Magdalena Abakanowicz. In 1976 she got her BFA at the Instituto Allende in Mexico. The artist’s work has participated in eight solo exhibitions, biennials, and numerous group exhibitions in the United States, Mexico, Poland, Canada, France, Belgium, and Holland.
Pearl Sanchez
Estamos paradas en cultura Latex and acrylic on wood 13 ½ x 70 ½ inches $240.00
This piece celebrates the visual cultural story of indigenous women of color.
Priscilla Carrion
Mornings to Zoom Out Textile, quilt 82 x 102 inches $600.00
A quilt. Made using my favorite stash of fabric scraps with a log cabin quilt block pattern and also screen printing some fabrics. I started to learn how to meditate. It’s something I recently discovered my aunts, a few cousins and my mother do regularly. With our communications I’m learning we have shared rituals that help us to connect with one another in a different way. All of us are living in different countries, but sharing some quiet meditation and getting to know more about our culture and history and my abuelita’s life through my female lineage has influenced me a lot. I feel supported in a past present and future way now. I started making these log cabin blocks a few months ago and was chipping away at them at a slow pace when I was stuck in another project or part of my life. I went to it to simply build something with no end intention. The repetition making was important. Also the use of old fabrics to make a new piece was another goal. For the printed fabric I drew the repeat design of hair cut ends, hair weak ends layered and falling. Hair being something that grows out of you, representing something one grows, but get’s cut away when one wants or needs to. Some things become destructively 31
rooted in you. Rooted from trauma that became embedded in my body and historical ones also rooted in my lineage. This cause a breakdown of communication with the world. Your nervous system becomes too overwhelmed and you become accustomed to seeing the world with a lens of fear. That becomes your normal state. The more I learn about my grandmother and her world the more I noticed the historical repeating cycle that has existed. Although still part of me, my memories and my lineage past, I see we also are capable of cutting the weak ends off. To become healthier. The weak ends print turns into mountains in this quilt which i like seeing. Everything changes and is transient. By looking at nature and practicing meditation I am reminded of that. By trying to see and stop the cycle of patriarchal abuse in my lineage I am trying to also remember the impermanence of everything and that change is more than possible it is god. When I zoom out from something I’ve been thinking about too much and know my aunts, cousins and mother have had these moments and thoughts too, I feel better again.
About the Artist
Priscilla Carrion is a textile artist living and working in Providence, RI. She received a BFA in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2007. Currently she is creating works on commission, is a sample maker, quilter and is developing her practice and designs in a collective textile studio space in Olneyville. “In my personal creative pursuits I am influenced by my history and background, having been raised in Providence as first generation Ecuadorian American. Growing up with a foot in each culture and traveling have increased my awareness of the impact that economic and political changes can have on our personal lives, societies, art and cultural trends. We are communal organisms and from my experience living in RI, I’ve learned it’s essential to empower residents to be engaged in their communities through artistic expressions; It can be healing. I am motivated and inspired by my friends and by nature. I have evolving concerns that trickle into everything. I am a decolonial feminist. I am flawed but I have value. I ramble sometimes. Lately, I am exploring visibility and invisibility and also cycles in nature.” Website: priscillacarrion.net
Raquel Centeno
El comienzo...mi fuerza Acrylic on canvas 12 x 18 inches
With the direction of her painting instructor, Jane Madrigal, Centeno painted her only daughter who embodies the strength and resilience of her ancestors.
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About the Artist
Born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, Raquel Saldaña Centeno immigrated to San Antonio, Texas, when she was 19 years old. As the eldest of siblings, she took on the responsibility of taking care of her family and, with her mother’s loving support, raised her daughter to “valerse por sí misma.” As an immigrant woman, Raquel has overcome all kinds of challenges -- linguistic discrimination, racism, poverty, and machismo un the work place -- and has been an example to the generations of women in her family and community of what it is to be a fierce woman, grounded in the wisdom of ancestral women. For more than 25 years, Raquel managed the Mexican bakeries at Centeno Supermarkets and opened up her own cake shop with her son Jose Yole Centeno. She continues to bake from home, is an active participant in her church community, and works on her creative projects.
Sarah Castillo
Unspoken Connections
Photo transfer on watercolor paper, yarn Dimensions vary In memory of my great-grandmother, I’ve recreated a larger version of a small family photo of her. The original photo has dainty edges bordered with red thread, encircling a young woman from the 1930s. She is my connection to curanderismo. She is my connection to my Mexican roots. Through her practice, she showed me about plants as healing medicine for the body - a wonderment to me as a child to learn about the powers of the Earth. I recreat this image to revive the memory and merge this knowledge with art, as a way to regain and reinvigorate the past and present that is living in my bones.
About the Artist
Sarah Castillo is a visual artist based in San Antonio, Texas. Born and raised in San Antonio, Castillo obtained her Master’s degree in Bicultural Studies from the University of Texas at San Antonio with thesis title: Art as an Embodied Practice: Artistic Expression, Conocimiento, and Identity Formation. She is co-founder of Mas Rudas Collective and Creative Director of Lady Base Gallery. As a collective member she has shown at Artpace, Institute of Texan Cultures, and Mexic-Arte Museum. As a curator, she coordinates exhibition spaces for women and lgbtqia artists working in the community. As an artist, Castillo works in mixed media and self portraiture in a self-reflexive method. She has shown at Galveston Arts Center, University of Texas at San Antonio, was selected for the IV Biennial 2015 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, and was awarded an artist grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture for 2017. Website: http://www.sarahcastillo210.com | Instagram: @casarahcasarah Email: ladybase210@gmail.com
Suzy González Xilonen
Chicken wire, newsprint, corn husks, corn silk, beans, and corn sewed onto indigo and avocado dyed pillows 64 x 20 x 18 inches 33
With a socially engaged framework, my work is a study of the treatment of beings based on one’s race, gender, and species. Through the lens of ecofeminism, I search for similarities between the treatments of marginalized groups of people and that of animals and the earth. I examine the complexity of what it means to portray a subject or an object, and critique historical nude painting through a subversion of the figure. I find interest in the decolonization of one’s diet, or a desire to return to the plant-based nourishment of our ancestors. I seek to embrace a mestiza identity and the decolonization of both diet and art. From the Mayan belief of corn as a God-given source of life to today, we see that the crop has been genetically exploited and made to be unhealthy. What does that mean for our life source? This ongoing series holds anatomical elements combined with a portrayal of the husk figures and considers notions of objectification, consumption, and our cultural and physical make-up.
About the Artist
Suzy González received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her BFA from Texas State University. She has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center, the Trelex Residency at the Tambopata Research Center in Peru, The Wassaic Residency, and most recently, the Studios at MASS MoCA. Her latest exhibitions include the 6th Chicana/o Biennial at MACLA in San Jose, CA and United We Are One at the Plaza de Armas in San Antonio, TX. She is half of Yes, Ma’am zine who recently organized The Nasty Women Exhibition in San Antonio, TX. Upcoming exhibits include The Art of the Animal at the Animal Museum in Los Angeles and Mestizx Nation, a collaborative exhibit with Michael Menchaca at The University of Connecticut. She currently lives and works in San Antonio, TX.
Tamara Becerra Valdez Untitled Letters (2) Graphite on paper 11 x 11 inches $250.00
The Untitled Series of Letters is an exercise in writing the same letter continuously to loved ones and/or archetypes that continuously expose themselves in my life. Through the repetitive action of writing the letter over and over again, the ritual creates a reconciliation of the associated memory and feeling. The indecipherable text allows the viewer to grasp a trace of a feeling while still recognizing the intention and sentiment of the artist’s action.
About the Artist
Tamara Becerra Valdez (b. 1984 Corpus Christi, Texas) is a visual artist working across many disciplines including video, photography, performance and printed matter. In bridging the disciplines of archival research, ethnography and visual arts, her practice blends intuition and inquiry; affect with historical and contemporary analysis. Valdez explores ways in which we preserve memory, recover personal histories and share narratives. She restages artifacts and reveals overlooked and forgotten details found in the vernacular. Valdez has worked alongside staff in museum collections and special initiatives at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Harry Ransom Center and the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. She is a co-founder of LOS LIBROS DEL FUTURO, a small press in Mexico City, founded on an editorial 34
philosophy and the value in the art of the archive. She lives and works between South Texas and Mexico City. Instagram accounts: @folklorica @loslibrosdelfuturo | Email: becerravaldez@gmail.com Website: www.tamarabecerravaldez.com
Teri Borrego
Siempre Frida
Paper mâché 26 x 20 ¾ inches $275.00 The inspiration of my piece comes from my enjoyment in working with paper mâché. The piece is a 3D portrait of Frida Kahlo.
About the Artist
I was born in my Grandma Concha’s home in the Five Points neighborhood of San Antonio. Later, I moved with my parents, Roberto & Estella, to the Veramendi Homes on the Westside. My father passed away at age 24. We then moved around to places such as Chicago and Merced, California, oftentimes doing migrant work picking cherry tomatoes, grapes, oranges, etc. In 1967 we moved back to San Antonio and were called “The California Girls” by our cousins. I attended Mark Twain Jr. High & Thomas Edison High, began employment in 1975 with the Texas Department of Public Welfare – later called Texas Health & Human Services – and retired in 2008. My biggest accomplishment is raising my daughter, Annette, age 43, to be an independent hard working woman and a fabulous mother.
Yvonne Herrera-Rendon Seeds of Hope
Natural and re-purposed materials: Wildflower Seeds, stone, re-purposed vinyl belt, a cotton bandana, pecan wood, soil and a terracotta pot. 8 x 8 inches The scapegoating of the Mexican peoples has been a plight that has been in my existence and before my existence. The absurdity of a stone wall to remove a people from sight reminded me of the old Mexican proverb, “They thought they would bury us, but they didn’t realize we were seeds.” I felt a strong draw to express this proverb with a stone representing a ‘wall’ and covered it with various types of ‘seeds’ which represent the many Mexican peoples. Sprouting from the stone are ‘chanclas’ demonstrating our people’s perseverance and inability to be buried, walled out of sight or gotten rid of. The strength of my people is rooted in their deep faith and is personified by the ‘red bandana rosary’ wrapped around in a ‘David and Goliath’ manner ready to propel against any oppressor of the time; yelling out, “¡Aquí Estamos y No Nos Vamos!”
About the Artist
Yvonne Herrera-Rendon is a native San Antonian born and raised in the West Side. Her mestiza background – a great mixture of Mexican, Italian, and Native American – gives her a natural affinity and passion for all things in nature. 35
Artwork is available for purchase through the Esperanza until Friday, May 26, 20017. If you would like to purchase art in this exhibit, please contact us at 210.228.0201 or stop by the exhibit at the Esperanza in person. You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time. - Angela Davis Citations
Editorial, Artsy. “We Broke Down the Art World’s 100 Most Powerful People by Race, Gender, Profession, and Place of Birth.” Artsy. N.p., 19 Oct. 2016. Web. Mar. 2017. <https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-we-broke-down-the-art-world-s-100-mostpowerful-people-by-race-gender-profession-and-place-of-birth>. “National Museum of Women in the Arts.” Get the Facts | National Museum of Women in the Arts. National Museum of Women in the Arts, n.d. Web. Mar. 2017. <https://nmwa. org/advocate/get-facts>.
The people of Esperanza dream of a world where everyone has civil rights and economic justice, where the environment is cared for, where cultures are honored and communities are safe. The Esperanza advocates for those wounded by domination and inequality — women, people of color, the lesbian, gay, trans and queer community, the working class and poor. We believe in creating bridges between people by exchanging ideas and educating and empowering each other. We believe it is vital to share our visions of hope… we are esperanza.
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