This new artist talk series features artists from Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio speaking about their works. The roundtable dialogues will be moderated by exhibition co-curators Jill Baird and Greta de León. Xicanx Speaks! is an opportunity to learn more from these artists who are confronting the critical issues of our time such as racism, diversity, and identity.

The October 22 edition of Xicanx Speaks! will feature Delilah Montoya, Oree Original and Alfred J. Quiroz.

Join us for the full series of Xicanx Speaks!:
September 24: Judith F. Baca, Sarah Castillo + Kathy Vargas
October 15: Celia Álvarez Muñozs, Linda Vallejo + Debora Kuetzpal Vasquez
October 22: Delilah Montoya, Oree Original + Alfred J. Quiroz
November 12: Alejandro Diaz, Carlos Frésquez + Ana Lilia Salinas
November 19: Julio César Morales, Celeste de Luna + Luis Valderas

This is a hybrid event that will take place in-person (drop-in) and online (registration required, link below).

Bios

Delilah Montoya was born in Texas and raised in the Midwest and is long-time resident of New Mexico, the ancestral home of her mother’s family. Her work is grounded in the mestizo/a experience of the Southwest and borderlands. As a photographic printmaker, Montoya consistently pushes the boundaries of what is technically possible and conceptually challenging, always returning the documentary gaze. As a Chicana feminist and a product of a strong matriarchal tradition, her work explores the unusual relationships that result from negotiating different ways of seeing the world around her. She positions her work as an alternative to the mainstream and aligns herself from a mestizaje perspective.

Oree Originol, born Daniel Aguilera Jimenez, grew up in Los Angeles where, inspired by street culture, graffiti became his outlet. He used OREE as his “tagger” name, derived from an inside joke with childhood friends who poked fun at his big ears. In 2009, he moved to the Bay Area in pursuit of a career as an artist and social activist. He began painting colourful abstract compositions of various shapes, and these became his identifying style of work. Originol expanded his skills into digital art and, in 2014, launched Justice For Our Lives, a digital portrait series of people killed by US law enforcement. Over the ensuing seven years he created 100 black-and-white portraits that would become the visual backdrop to numerous Black Lives Matter protests in the Bay Area and beyond.

Alfred J. Quiroz began his art training at the San Francisco Art Institute after serving in the military, including in Vietnam from 1964 to 1966. He continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design where he earned a Master of Arts in Teaching in 1974, and completed an MFA at the University of Arizona in 1984. Quiroz tackles injustices with a sense of humour and an edge of satire. Deeply researched, the events he highlights in his works are often forgotten traumas or racial stereotypes offered up with glossy garish paint.

THIS EVENT WAS FUNDED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE. THE OPINIONS, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS STATED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE ORGANIZERS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE.