ARTS & CULTURE
T HE A RT OF
PROTEST B
By Oliver X
lack Lives Matter. That strident, self-evident declaration that burst onto our consciousness after Michael Brown’s killing in Ferguson, has spawned a global justice movement to end racial discrimination, shining a torchlight on the inequities of a nation yearning to embody its creed: indivisible. From the midnight lynching of Mexican “desperado” Luis Ortiz on the Virginia Street Bridge, by 70 masked members of the 601 Vigilance Committee in 1891, to the current protest actions in the Newlands Park district of Old Southwest Reno, Reno’s racist racial history is coming under closer scrutiny. One of civilization’s most cogent communication tools — art — is being used as an instrument of peaceful protest and change.
K IDS IN C AGES If you’ve walked along the streets of downtown or Midtown Reno, you have undoubtedly seen the vivid art of the Mexico City-raised artist Edwin Martinez Esco. The U.S. Navy veteran creates vibrant murals and paintings depicting historical figures from his native Mexico, like Pancho Villa, Zapata and Frida Kahlo, that dot the Reno wallscape. His unique style is instantly recognizable and his messages unmistakable. In one particularly incendiary piece titled “My Heart Goes Out To You,” Esco shows a Mexican immigrant child, separated from parents, clutching detention fencing, with huge, mournful eyes. The emotional impact of this piece 10 getaway reno/tahoe • planmygetaway.com
is instantaneous. I teared up upon seeing it, imagining the terror and helplessness thousands of children are facing at our southern borders. “’My Heart Goes Out To You’ is for the families getting torn apart; kids separated from their loved ones and getting treated inhumanely by being put in cages, like criminals … As an immigrant, dreamer and veteran, it hits home,” Esco emphasizes.
A RT SPEA K S The 24-hour art action Art Speaks, held this summer during Artown and created by a racially diverse group of Reno residents, showcased the powerful social impact of art. The art action used life-sized “humanoid canvases” of RACE, INCLUSION and HEALING created by imagination maven and artistic scientist Sharon DeMattia. They were lit day and night during the peaceful park protest. Art Speaks grew out of the rancorous Newlands Park renaming controversy. At issue, the call by residents of color and conscience for the removal of the monument celebrating Nevada U.S. Senator Francis G. Newlands, the Mississippi-born attorney turned politician, and avowed white supremacist. Known for his bitter opposition to the 15th Amendment, for favoring whites-only immigration, and for the Newlands Resolution of 1898, which annexed the Republic of Hawai’i, Newlands was a prolific developer
Photo this page: Jeramie Lu (Oliver X), Photos next page: Jeramie Lu (Oliver X), Edwin Martinez Esco (My Heart Goes Out To You), Sharong DeMattia (Humanoid Canvases)
