Miriam Alarcón Avila and Seso Marentes of Colectivo Luchart are organizing their an art exhibition at Mainframe Studios to honor Latino heritage and culture. (Photos: Miriam Alarcón Avila, Janae Gray)
By Hailey Evans
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The Statue of Liberty’s famous poem by Emma Lazarus provides the tagline for “Bienvenidos a Iowa,” an art exhibition slated for next month’s First Friday open house on Sept. 5 at Mainframe Studios.
“If you are an immigrant, the Statue of Liberty has a strong meaning, psychologically and politically,” said local artist Miriam Alarcón Avila, who is co-curating the exhibit with fellow artist Seso Marentes. They chose the New York landmark as a theme because of what it represents to their communities.
“We are honoring all these generations of immigrants and that sacrifice they made to follow a dream,” Alarcón Avila said.
“Bienvenidos a Iowa” is the first art exhibition at Mainframe that Alarcón Avila and Marentes have curated with Colectivo Luchart, the statewide art collective they co-founded. The show features 37 Latino, Chicano and immigrant artists from around Iowa and is designed to honor the minority groups’ heritage, identity and resilience and spotlight their contributions to the state. The exhibition will remain through Sept. 23 to celebrate Latino Heritage Month.
During the First Friday event, 5-8 p.m., visitors can see the artwork, watch performances by Danza Folklórica, participate in a hands-on art activity by the nonprofit group Art is Rad, and check out custom lowrider cars on display from Lizarde Hydraulics.
Marentes, who recently received a Governor’s Arts Award from the Iowa Arts Council for preserving and sharing cultural heritage through the arts, emphasized how Latino representation in the arts can influence future generations of artists. “We are Latinos,”he said. “We’re survivors.”
He said the event is meant to showcase the possibilities of Latinos in the art world, especially for youth who might not otherwise see themselves as artists. “We can’t let Latino stories fall through the cracks,” he said.
The art collective, Colectivo Luchart, involves dozens of Latino artists and students across Iowa and was created to fill “a need and desire to find other artists of Latinx origin who are creating in the state of Iowa,” according to its website.
Alarcón Avila said the group’s members help one another find opportunities, apply for grants, bridge language barriers and provide general support. As she put it, “Every space we gain, we share it.”
