Nepantla: Border Arte

Nepantla: Border Arte drew together visual and performance artists who connect with a borderland identity, as defined by queer Chicana feminist theorist Gloria Anzaldúa. The borderland is a physical and geographical boundary, as well as a physiological, spiritual, political, and socio-cultural space. These artists exist in nepantla, exploring identidad through autohistoria, testimonio, and the never-ending plática surrounding who tells the stories and what stories and histories are told. The works approach themes of generational assimilation, cultural erasure, discrimination, and experiences of contending with a dominant culture. Many of the pieces speak to tradition, loss, lineage, and family. Some of the work comments on the immigrant experience, as well as the involuntary immigration of peoples through historical border shifts. Each piece contributes to a collective identity and a liberatory space for healing and social change. We gather in the borderlands. We are neither here nor there, but we are whole.

Featuring work from:
Sara Serratos, Pablo Cruz-Ayala, Mao Barroteran, Bianca Velasquez, Vicky Lowe, Mika Rane, Alethia "Lunares" Rodriguez, Jazmin Guzman, Maru Quevedo, Andrew Alba, Allison Martínez-Arocho, Miguel Hernandez, Kelly Tapìa-Chuning, Roxanne Gray, Stephanie García, and Fausto Rivera

This curation was awarded by the Salt Lake City Arts Council and produced in collaboration with 801 Salon. The exhibit, at Finch Lane Gallery, featured work from thirteen visual artists and three movement artists. Nepantla: Border Arte also hosted two art workshops, sponsored by Artes de México en Utah.

"Curator Roxanne Gray introduces her exhibition in a delightful and seductive, bilingual fashion, stating “These artists exist in nepantla, exploring identidad through autohistoria, testimonio, and the never ending plática surrounding who tells the stories . . .” In most of the world, this is how people routinely talk, selecting the appropriate term from the vocabularies known to be present. Gray’s cognates—words of similar meaning that also sound alike in various languages—help to create the same kind of common feelings as artworks aim for, which are rare in verbal languages, but common in a shared visual vocabulary. However one feels about the way art is changing, such exercises can only help to break down barriers and free up Nepantla, the liminal spaces between zones, not just for passage, but as good neighborhoods to live in."
-Geoff Wichert, 15 Bytes 

CREDITS