Thoughts on Bi-Lingual + the Artists’ Roundtable

Ayanah Moore brings our attention to whiteness, its relevance on the concept of minority and the void there is for artists to present their work in a space that accepts and does not to judge or weigh alternative representational systems. We are acculturated to perceive whiteness as a state of grace separated from race and ethnicity. We face here (and forget most of the time) that the race concept was invented by the white culture. A white dominating society needn’t to define them. Whites distanced themselves from an ethnic concept and proclaimed to hold “the superior” culture.  As a foreigner, not immigrant, from one of the regions of Latin America I understand Moore’s distrust of events created to highlight your pain, differences, struggle and/or genetic make-up. Many events of this kind are produced with good will but still carry a colonialist mentality.  As soon as you mention that you belong ethnically or genetically to a non-white group you are immediately classified, as having or lacking certain characteristics. Moreover when you associate with your kin all sorts of assumptions and prejudices are set in place in order to “understand” what you and “your group” are about.

The challenges then for artists participating in a show like Bi-lingual are several. How can you associate with a group that shares some of the characteristics that define you while keeping your associations fresh and open? How do you carve a space where you can explore your “layers of complexity” and have a safe space for your findings?  How do you get away from the sometimes convenience of your own stereotypes?  Ultimately how do you remain honest to your origin, expand yourself, challenge the labels imposed on you and transcend as an artist?

My interest in this exhibit was to talk to some of the artists on opening night. To listen to the stories they had and to ask them why participate in an exhibit like this. I spoke with some of them. I found Michael Lovelace and his loving, unapologetical rendition of the Americana that belongs to all of us but that we choose to ignore. There is the work of Rafael Valdivieso-Troya and his archetypal/intellectual pieces created especially for this exhibit. In them we observe, receive and participate. We are set in front of a choir of brujas singing from the depths of our souls and choose which ones to listen to. Finally Saskia Jorda with a beautiful, open abstraction of her development of bilingualism as a child whose mother spoke to her in English and  whose father did it in  Cataluñan.   What I found was that there is a venue outside the ethnic sale. The three artists mentioned took the challenge and used it to present their realities and their reflections on the larger context.  All I can say is excellent job Angelica and Spaces. I am looking forward to see more of these artists and type of work again soon.

~ Lourdes Sanchez