Desparecid@s: Brown Bodies Disappeared and Divided by Borders
DURON GALLERY PRESENTS
Opening Reception:
Saturday June 8 2013, 5-9PM
On Display through September 30 2013.
685 Venice Bvd. Venice, CA 90291
310-822-9560 x15
Press Release
On Saturday, June 8th, 2013, 5pm-9 pm, at 685 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA (Old Venice Police Station), SPARC’s historic headquarters since 1977 and home to The Durón Gallery we present the inaugural doctoral student cohort of the UCLA César E. Chavez Department of Chicana/o Studies, along with UCLA Graduate Students from Professor Judy Baca’s Community Cultural Development course, Desaparecid@s: Brown Bodies Disappeared and Divided by Borders. Music and refreshments served.
Through the use of visual art, the display of audiovisual material, and live performance, Desaparecid@s conveys the stories and lives of traditionally obscured migrants who have survived their disappearance or are currently in desaparecid@ status. Stories range from shattered families in Santa Ana and México, to undocumented children in foster care, transgender migrants who are survivors of abuse in Los Angeles, and a massive growing repatriad@ population in the southern border city of Tijuana.
The notion of “Desaparecid@s” emerges as an attempt to convey a parallel between the Latin American experience with U.S. Violent interventions, such as the cases of Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, and Guatemala. For us, the increased militarization of law enforcement agencies, policing of brown bodies on both sides of la frontera, and the displacement of “surplus” populations is a result of the same capitalist border that cuts across them. We remap the treatment of migrant deportad@s (deported) or repatriad@s (repatriated) to desparecid@s (the disappeared), to contextualize the displacement of migrants as a violation of human rights.
The body of work developed for this exhibition includes murals, stencils, short film, portraits, audio material, and mixed media. The installation is created by members of the Chicana and Chicano Studies Doctoral cohort and UCLA students: Jacqueline Caraves, Omar Gonzalez, LeighAnna Hidalgo-Newton, Silvia Rodriguez-Vega, Carlos Rogel, Kendy Rivera, KT Bender, and Claribel Valdovinos. For more information about the exhibition visit: desparecidas.us or desparecidos.us.
