AL NORTE Y P’ATRAS (NORTH AND BACK) EXHIBITION BY ÁLVARO DANIEL MÁRQUEZ
EXHIBITION RUNS: MAY 18, 2017 TO JUNE 17, 2017
OPENING RECEPTION MAY 18,2017 | 7PM TO 9PM
Al Norte y P’atras” (North and Back) presents a visual narrative of Mexican migration to the United States through a series of twelve hand-embellished, limited edition linocut prints. Using figurative expression and comics’ aesthetic grammar to tell the story of an undocumented Mexican farmer and his journey north, this project touches on various themes in current research on migration: the perils of the journey north, the use of technology to mediate familial relations across borders, the everyday rhythm of existence for some undocumented people, and the structural and historical factors that both push and pull migrants into the diaspora. In doing so, this show will challenge conventional distinctions between “high art” and vernacular/popular art, explore the relations between art and historical memory, and utilize visual narratives as a decolonial gesture. As part of this exhibition, visitors will be asked to participate in re-envisioning the chronology of migration through an interactive installation piece.
BIOGRAPHY
Álvaro D. Márquez is an L.A.-based visual artist and part-time professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. Raised in East Salinas, California, a community of migrant farm and working class laborers, his work explores questions of social, racial, and gender inequality by bridging “low brow” and “high art.” Especially inspired by comic books and visual forms of storytelling, his work engages questions about the self, history, and one’s place in it. He holds a B.A. in history from Brown University and an M.A. with emphasis in visual studies from the University of Southern California. In the Fall of 2017, Alvaro will begin an M.F.A. in Art, with emphasis in Printmaking, at California State University, Long Beach.