Week 8 Blog Post

 !Printing the Revolution! Virtual Conversation Series: From Black and Brown Solidarity to Afro-Latinidad was a very enriching discussion by three Latinx artists regarding printmaking, public art, and the way their identities and practices were shaped. A lot of the discussion was centered around the power of community, and the effect it can have on young artists and their ability to create and promote their work, especially in social movements. Favianna Rodriguez, an interdisciplinary artist from Oakland, spoke about the importance of seeing yourself and your identity reflected in popular media. I was struck by the story she told of being a child and wondering why her father and grandma, who were both Afro-Latino, were not represented in the telenovelas they would watch. As a child, I would often wonder this while looking at billboards in Mexico city. I would look at the smiling white faces and families in movie posters and giant billboards and wonder why they did not look anything like myself and the people walking by them. Rodriguez spoke of the importance of representation, particularly during the period of the War on Drugs, when people of color were being disproportionately prosecuted and portrayed as junkies and public threats. On a similar note, artist Malaquias Montoya spoke about the exhibition New Symbols for la Nueva Raza, and the decision made him and fellow latinx artists to use one of the Brown Berets present as the face of the exhibition. He described his indigenous facial features as beautiful, and said that the act of painting them made him reframe his opinion of his own looks. Favianna Rodriguez spoke of the use of indigenous iconography in her work, and how important it was to her to present these visuals with value. The erasure of indigenous influences in our visual culture is a constant from North to South America, and I agree with the artist’s purposeful use of these visuals, particularly in public art, as a way of reclaiming and reframing them as beautiful and valuable. Additionally, the presence and importance of Black heritage in the Latinx community has historically been ignored or outright ostracized. It is imperative for latinos to recognize our Black brothers, as well as the huge role they played during the Chicano movement and other pivotal moments of our history. As the artists discussed, collaborating, learning and sharing, is mutually beneficial, both in the context of art and social liberation.