Join the co-curators of MOA’s new feature exhibition, Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio, Jill Baird and Greta de León and select exhibition artists, including David Zamora Casas, Linda Vallejo, Delilah Montoya, Judith Baca, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, and Alfred Quiroz. The artists will share more about their works in the exhibition, revealing their various artistic approaches towards addressing the personal, social and political issues of our time.

Bios

David Zamora Casas is an award-winning multimedia genderfluid painter, performance activist, and installation artist who has engaged audiences under the pseudonym Nuclear Meltdown since 1985. Casas’ work, which focuses on LGBTQ+ and marginalized communities, features his refusal to be marginalized by mainstream, conservative, heteronormative systems. His practice is also informed by the experience of living in the US-Mexico borderland of Aztlán, and presents layered manifestations from a Joto Tejano, American-Xicanx perspective. David Zamora Casas describes his life/art practice as a conscious, radical decision to create and move forward dialogue that strives for an inclusive, eco-friendly, empathetic world.

Linda Vallejo creates works that investigate contemporary cultural and political issues, visualizing what it means to be a person of color in the United States. She states that these works reflect what she calls her “brown intellectual property”—the experiences, knowledge, and feelings gathered over more than four decades of study of Latino, Chicana/o, and American Indigenous culture and communities. She has produced hundreds of works in the “Make ‘Em All Mexican” series (2010-2021), painting various vintage and Victorian antiques brown, as well as The Brown Dot Project, a series of data pictographs where brown dots signify US Latino data and statistics.

Delilah Montoya is a photographic printmaker based in 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.

Celia Álvarez Muñoz is a conceptual artist from Texas known for her diverse multimedia works, including artist’s books, photography, installation, and public art. The book Celia Álvarez Muñoz by writer/poet Roberto Tejada surveys her career. Muñoz’s work has been nationally and internationally exhibited, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art 1991 Biennial; her latest cataloged exhibition is Radical Women: Latin American Art 1960-1985, which toured in the US and Brazil (2017 – 2018).

Judith F. Baca has been creating public art for four decades.  Her murals are powerful in size and subject matter, and bring art to where people live and work. In 1974, Baca founded the City of Los Angeles’ first mural program, that has produced over 400 murals and employed thousands of local participants. It has evolved into the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) where Baca serves as artistic director.

Alfred J. 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. Now a Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, Quiroz has enjoyed a long history as an art educator, joining the University in 1989 as an Assistant Professor and retiring in 2008. In 2006 he was commissioned by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago to create a piece for the travelling exhibition African Presence in Mexico, and he has also designed theatre sets and community murals nationally and internationally.

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.

This roundtable discussion will be facilitated by co-curators of Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio, Greta de León and Jill Baird, and select exhibition artists, including David Zamora Casas, Linda Vallejo, Judith Baca, Delilah Montoya, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, and Alfred Quiroz. This discussion is an opportunity to learn more about the artists’ works in relation to the themes of activism, neighbourhood, identity, home and borderlands featured in the exhibition.

Snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Bios

David Zamora Casas is an award-winning multimedia genderfluid painter, performance activist, and installation artist who has engaged audiences under the pseudonym Nuclear Meltdown since 1985. Casas’ work, which focuses on LGBTQ+ and marginalized communities, features his refusal to be marginalized by mainstream, conservative, heteronormative systems.

Linda Vallejo creates works that investigate contemporary cultural and political issues, visualizing what it means to be a person of color in the United States. She states that these works reflect what she calls her “brown intellectual property”—the experiences, knowledge, and feelings gathered over more than four decades of study of Latino, Chicana/o, and American Indigenous culture and communities.

Delilah Montoya is a photographic printmaker based in 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 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.

Celia Álvarez Muñoz is a conceptual artist from Texas known for her diverse multimedia works, including artist’s books, photography, installation, and public art. The book Celia Álvarez Muñoz by writer/poet Roberto Tejada surveys her career.

Judith F. Baca has been creating public art for four decades.  Her murals are powerful in size and subject matter, and bring art to where people live and work. In 1974, Baca founded the City of Los Angeles’ first mural program, that has produced over 400 murals and employed thousands of local participants. It has evolved into the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) where Baca serves as artistic director.

Alfred J. 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. Now a Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, Quiroz has enjoyed a long history as an art educator, joining the University in 1989 as an Assistant Professor and retiring in 2008.

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.

Enjoy free admission to MOA from 5 pm onwards for the opening night of Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers/Soñadores + creadores del cambio. At this festive celebration, partake in delicious food, cash bar, plus a special performance by artist David Zamora Casas. Local food trucks Ay! Mamacita and Dos Amigos Tex-Mex will be on site in MOA’s parking lot.

The artists in this exhibition are dreamers and changemakers. They are of Mexican American heritage—self-identified as Xicanx (the neutral grammatical gender of Chicano/a). The term transcends borders and gender to encompass the Xicanx people’s multi-generational experiences of social difference.

Xicanx artists, working across all mediums, are part of a rich tradition of combining visual art and activism. Some began their work as part of El Movimiento, the Chicano civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s that had its roots in the United States. Others define themselves as Indigenous, drawing upon their origins in Aztlán, the ancestral homeland referenced in Mexican códices and oral histories. The next generation is expanding the idea of Xicanx art while continuing to address the personal, social, and political issues of our times.

Xicanx features contemporary works by 33 artists who combine traditions with contemporary experiences and realities to create powerful critiques that help build our understanding of the issues of race, migration, and identity that impact the Xicanx community.

Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio is organized in conjunction with The Americas Research Network.

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.

Free museum admission | 5 pm onwards
Food Trucks | 5:30 pm
Cash Bar | 6:30 pm
Opening remarks | 7 pm
Performance | 8 pm

April marks MOA’s first edition of our new Culture Club family series. Join us for an experiential learning opportunity featuring storytelling, arts-based activities, and self-guided tours specially designed for young visitors. Families will have the chance to connect with and learn from MOA’s diverse collections and exhibitions. Culture Club focuses on active, participatory learning about diverse cultural perspectives and ways of knowing.

To kick things off in April, MOA invites families to join us at the Museum to learn about Ramadan traditions and celebrations.

Schedule

11–11:30 am: Story time about Ramadan, with MOA’s Public Programs Assistant, Nadin Hassan. Listen to stories that introduce themes of charity, fasting, and community. Nadin will also share personal stories about the importance of Ramadan celebrations and traditions of her own family.

11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Fanous-making workshop. Learn about the history and importance of these beautiful lanterns in Ramadan celebrations. (Limited supplies; first come, first served.)

11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Self-guided tour of Islamic objects in MOA collections.

Culture Club is made possible by the generous support of UBC Campus + Community Planning.

In this interactive 90-minute program, learn about the importance of Indigenous plants, how they enhance our wellbeing and the wellbeing of our local ecosystems, and reflect on themes of reciprocity, stewardship and our relationship with the plant world.

The event features T’uy’t’tanat sharing herbal tea with each participant (stinging nettle, raspberry leaf, mint and rosehips) as well as her extensive knowledge through stories and songs in MOA’s Haida House. She will then lead a walk through the various Indigenous plants growing on MOA’s grounds, and talk about their uses and properties for traditional health practices.

Included with the program fee, each participant will also receive a bag of handcrafted Indigenous herbal tea from T’uy’t’tanat and her daughter Senaqwila Wyss’s co-owend Indigenous herbal tea company Raven and Hummingbird Tea Co.

T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh/Sto:Lo/Hawaiian/Swiss) is an interdisciplinary artist who works with digital media, writing, and performance as her multi-disciplinary arts practice. She is a community engaged and public artist and ethnobotanist. Her works range over 30 years and have always focused on sustainability, permaculture techniques, Coast Salish Cultural elements and have included themes of ethnobotany, Indigenous language revival, Salish weaving and digital media technology. Cease recently collaborated with Oli Salvas and Anne-Marie Mellster through the IOC-UNESCO project to create an app entitled “We Are Ocean” that has been a tremendous example of how indigenous and non-Indigenous communities need to unite through a cultural lens in order to raise awareness about sustainability and protecting species at risk, as well as recognition of our part in the colonial destruction of ecosystems.

Presented in conjunction with the student exhibition, Closer Closer: Miniatures, Models, and Their Stories, curated by the students of Anthropology 431: Museum Practice and Curatorship. This interactive exhibition explores the stories behind everyday miniatures.

Bring your own miniatures that are meaningful to you, and share your stories with others.

Michael Soganic is a Vancouver-based miniature maker, and self-described model train nerd. He has built a series of miniatures based on Vancouver’s most beloved buildings, stores, and venues, such as the Vernon Drive Grocery and Little Mountain Gallery, and posts his works often on his Instagram page.

Featuring two incredible BIPOC and femme-identifying performers: Maia and headliner Turunesh, a UBC alumnus plus an opening act featuring spoken word poet, Ky in honour of the International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31). Cozy up by the outdoor fire pit, roast a marshmallow and dance the night away.

Hailing from around the world both artists bring diverse experiences and voices into the Vancouver and University of British Columbia music scene. Maia’s genre-bending songs will touch on life’s realities and our relationships we form with ourselves and others as the rhythmic sounds of Turunesh’s Zanzibari-style melodies of Taarab music with her signature feminist flair will fill the cedar scented air.

At this event, MOA will be accepting donations of select toiletries and personal care products on behalf of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. We encourage you to bring these items to contribute: sunscreen, body wipes, Kleenex, deodorant, soap bars, travel-size toiletries.

This evening is presented in partnership with Exposure UBC, the UBC Arts and Culture District, and the UBC Blank Vinyl Project.

Bios

Like the first spark of a new flame, Ky is a spoken word poet that thrives on air from the audience and the winds of the moment. Her free flowing lyrical style weaves personal identity and social activism, with the energy of whatever room she finds herself in. As a human raised around the world, she is an artist that works with the crowd to pull them in for ride of new ideas and perspectives.

Turunesh, crowned ‘Conjurer of worlds’, her musical moments are monumental on stage and on the record. Turunesh married her love for writing poetry and singing at 14 years old. Shyly releasing original songs on Soundcloud and selectively sharing her links with a small circle of trusted friends, Turunesh had no idea that she would become a pioneer of East Africa’s alternative art scene. A truly multifaceted artist, the Tanzanian singer, songwriter, and creative director is becoming a leading voice amongst her peers in the realm of alternative African music. Turunesh currently resides in Vancouver, Canada, where she is constantly breaking down boundaries, reinventing the sonic infrastructure, and introducing an experimental and refreshing take on the new wave of Neo Soul & RnB. Known for her fluid and sensual approach to music, Turunesh encapsulates the goddess essence of her songs ‘Rum & Butter’ & ‘Coco Marijuana’. Her unique silky sound and lyrical suave has solidified her as a feminist, Pan-African artist on the rise.

Maia is an industrious artist from Vancouver who prioritizes authenticity and creativity in her art. Her lyricism and wide vocal range touch upon the realities of life from relationships with the self to the ones you love. Born in the UK, she spent her childhood moving to Ghana, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. Maia has been surrounded by sounds of all backgrounds, which influence her desire to mix genres and create unique sounds.

This event kicks off with talks from exhibition co-curators, Nuno Porto, Nya Lewis and Titilope Salami, along with select participating artists from the exhibition Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots. Join in the reflection on the exhibition and a discussion of the themes and inspiration behind it. Speeches will be followed by a final celebration of Sankofa with the curators, artists, and community members.

Curator Bios

Nuno Porto, MOA Curator, Africa + South America, holds a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, where he taught anthropology until 2011. In Central Portugal, he worked on issues related to literacy acquisition, religion and visual culture. In Cape Verde and Angola his work has focused on issues related to colonialism, science, museology, photography, material, visual and digital cultures, and contemporary African art.

Nya Lewis is a Vancouver-based independent curator, and MFA candidate at OCAD. A writer, activist, and community organizer committed to building just and inclusive cultural and social infrastructure in Vancouver – her work celebrates the strength and perseverance of Black Canadian culture, history and its diversity.

Titilope Salami, guest curator for the exhibition Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots, is an artist, curator and lecturer of visual arts at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Her group exhibitions include Jubilation (2014), Diversiform (2018), Strength of Women (2019), and On and On (2019), and she participated in the performance Red Day (2017) with Jelili Atiku. Salami is currently conducting her Ph.D. research in the history and policies of West African museums at the University of British Columbia.

Curators from the exhibitions Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots and Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum dive deep into conversation as they explore intersections across these two powerful and important exhibitions that highlights Black history and belonging in BC and beyond.

Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum is presented by the BC Black History Awareness Society in partnership with the Royal BC Museum, sharing the story of Afro-diasporic “British Columbia” history, past, present and future. Black “British Columbian” history has long been whitewashed in the annals of colonial history. Against the backdrop of white-centring walls, this exhibit daylights the living and ongoing history of Black belonging, told in this manner by the Black community for the first time.

Best suited for young adults and adults.

Presented in conjunction of MOA’s feature exhibition Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots, this afternoon explores stories and perspectives of the African diaspora. You will have the opportunity to get immersed in a fictional Congolese origin story and hear excerpts from Njamba’s upcoming children’s book.

Come join in dynamic call-and-response songs and sing along to the guitar as you learn more about traditional folk stories from a number of different African traditions. Find out more about Njamba’s own routes and roots, and feel free to ask questions about his career as a writer.

This event is suitable for children ages 5 to 12.

Njamba Koffi, author of Refuge-e: The Journey Much Desired and BA student of International Relations and Affairs and Creative Writing at UBC, is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and has lived and travelled in multiple countries as a refugee. He appreciates multiculturalism, is highly passionate about youth empowerment, and advocates for recognition and resolution of minority issues, especially issues affecting refugee youth.