US Latinx Forum invited me to share my studio practice including my Mother Mold sculptures and Linea Negra Photographs from the Mama Spa Botanica. I am deeply grateful to our Latinx matriarch, artist Juana Valdes for her nomination.
CHISPA is the second of three programs under the umbrella of USLAF’s Mazorca Initiative. In this series of mini virtual studio visits, Latinx visual artists from a range of backgrounds were invited to record short videos responding to a set of prompts asking them to state their name and where they are currently based, choose an artwork to reflect on, and respond to the question, “What does the ‘X’ in Latinx art mean to me?” Like the chispa (spark) that inspires its name, CHISPA artists’ “hot takes” shed light on the issues that animate their respective practices and on the real-life and symbolic significance, possibilities, and limitations of the ‘X,’ underscoring the complexity and multifaceted nature of working and thriving as a Latinx artist in 2021. CHISPA artists were nominated by USLAF’s external Mazorca advisory board, consisting of curators, artists, and academics from around the country.
Spanning geographies, backgrounds, and artistic mediums and styles, the ten artists selected to create CHISPA videos offer discerning insights into their practices in the three-to-five-minute videos they submitted. Artists were nominated by USLAF’s external advisory board, a world-class group of artists, curators, and academics with expertise in Latinx art. Like the chispa (spark) that inspires its name, CHISPA artists’ “hot takes” shed light on the issues that animate their respective practices and on the real-life and symbolic significance, possibilities, and limitations of the ‘X,’ underscoring the complexity and multifaceted nature of working and thriving as a Latinx artist in 2021.
The US Latinx Forum champions artists and arts professionals engaged in research, studio practice, pedagogy and writing. They generate support initiatives that advance the vitality of latinx art through an intergenerational network that spans academia, art institutions and collections.
CHISPA Artists:
Francheska Alcantara, Dianna Frid, Alexander Hernández, Tina Hernández, Coralina Rodríguez Meyer, Emily Oliveira, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, Chelsea Ramírez, Leandra Urrutia, Victor Yañez-Lazcano
Lambastic 