麻豆村

By Walter Ryce

On April 8, Angelica Muro, artist and Chair of the Visual and Public Art Department, engaged in virtual conversation with fellow artist Amy D铆az-Infante about their creative practice, personal journeys as artists and educators, and equity in the art and museum worlds.

It was hosted by Monterey Museum of Art as part of its Califas Legacy Project and the associated exhibit 鈥淭he Ancestral Journey/El Viaje Ancestral.鈥�

Organized by Membership Coordinator and Board Liason Melanie Zaragoza, the conversation, titled 鈥淭wo Journeys,鈥� was moderated by the museum's Interim Executive Director Corey Madden.

Artist Amy Diaz-Infante

It began with D铆az-Infante presenting a slide of a work of art of a girl having her hair severely brushed by a woman, and her talking about a tension in her work, control and manipulation of her body by others including her mom.

鈥淭he flipside is, it鈥檚 out of love,鈥� she said. Her mother wanted to present her to the world in the best possible light to protect her, as girl of color, from harsh appraisal or worse.

She showed an ethereal portrait on her sister rendered only in wrinkles and creases in a sheet, saying dark humor, candid nicknames and talk of death is 鈥減art of my Mexican tradition.鈥� About a stark but colorful painting of a hand lighting a candle, she spoke of her grandmother lighting veladoras (Mexican candles with pictures of saints on them) to protect her on fateful events or long travels.

鈥淚鈥檓 taking ownership of what is holy and sanctified,鈥� she said. 鈥淧lus it makes me feel better to know she鈥檚 lighting a candle for me.鈥�

Artist and VPA Chair Angelica Muro

Muro prefaced her talk by saying she intended to incorporate historical, social, political and ethical realms, her aesthetic choices and visual language, of race, socio-economic class, gender tension, diaspora culture and immigrant life.

She spoke about the intersection of all those things in terms of 鈥減ositionality.鈥�

She showed images from a series called Narco Language, about the pop culture appropriation of terms like 鈥渘arco chic鈥� (the trappings of guns and cars), 鈥渘arco queens鈥� (beauty contestants that get caught up in the drug trade), mixing glamor and gruesomeness.

She showed a series titled Agricultural Workers, which she started in college, but the origins of which began earlier.

鈥淚 grew up in a migrant labor camp in the San Joaquin Valley,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he highest producer of food for the country, with the highest level of food insecurity. The [most people] below the poverty line.鈥�

She co-opted a pamphlet that was given to her father by a federal government agency that, in 鈥渙verly simplistic, shockingly patronizing鈥� terms cautioned them about the hazards of pesticides. She added elite icons of wealth status to simple drawing of farmworkers, adorning them with Prada bags and Gucci sunglasses, 鈥渃omplicating鈥� the simplistic drawings with juxtaposing class messages.

In a series titled Club Lido: Wild Eyes and Occasional Dreams, a collaboration with Juan Luna-Avin, centers on a former nightclub in San Jose in which Latino and Vietnamese people, who rarely intersected otherwise, came together.

After the presentations, in the Q&A portion, D铆az-Infante talked about how her identity is sometimes foisted on her and she sometimes chooses and dons it herself. She talked about being repelled by the heralding of elitism of the art world and being drawn to the 鈥渄emocratic鈥� accessibility of printmaking in disseminating messages.

Considering the frame of mind of a 20-year-old wanting to be an artist, Muro acknowledged awareness about her own positionality in her art career.

鈥淚鈥檓 at a place in my life where I鈥檓 afforded the opportunity to take more risks, to use the word 鈥榥o,鈥� to have more autonomy,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 have more choices. I speak to you now from a place of privilege.鈥�

She said that it took a lot of hard work to get there: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a miracle anyone gets here at all.鈥�

She talked about her early art career in nonprofits, in founding a gallery in San Jose for people her age, coming to 麻豆村 and working to create opportunities for students.

鈥溌槎勾� is trying to create a space to go out in the community, contribute to the economy,鈥� Muro said. She spoke of a housing project in Chinatown in which she鈥檚 creating a space for students and the community.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e trying to achieve is something that becomes more equitable. That remains to be seen. That鈥檚 so darn exciting.鈥�

The Califas Legacy Project launched on January 9, 2021, has included a symposium with people like Chicana artist and 麻豆村 founding faculty Judith F. Baca and renowned art collector Armando Duron, and the exhibition has also included other 麻豆村 affiliated artists including Amalia Mesa-Bains, Professor Emerita; Guillermo Aranda 鈥�10; Armando Franco '11; and Jaime Sanchez '08.

The exhibit has been extended to April 22, and can be viewed in an online gallery and video walk-through at the .