Latino arts showcase in Albuquerque

Latino/a visual, literary and performing arts will be showcased during exhibition February 19 – May 14, 2011 in Albuquerque

Albuquerque, NM (February 2011) – 516 ARTS and the University of New Mexico (UNM) College of Fine Arts in Albuquerque, New Mexico have collaborated with many organizations, artists and scholars to produce Latino/a Imaginary during spring 2011. The collaboration features art, music, dance, talks, readings and a bi-regional conference.

Central to the season-long Latino arts collaboration is the Latina/o Visual Imaginary: Intersection of Word & Image exhibition at 516 ARTS, which focuses on the connectedness between contemporary Latino arts and literature.

Guest Curator Dr. Holly Barnet-Sanchez says, “The relationships between the visual, literary and performing arts are especially close and intertwined within Latino communities across the country. Many visual artists are also writers, musicians, performance artists and actors. This project explores the role of narrative as visual, verbal and textual—within the lived Latino/a experience.”

The exhibition features installations by special guest artists and MacArthur Fellows Amalia Mesa-Bains and Pepón Osorio, who are legendary figures in the world of contemporary Latino/a art. The exhibition also features emerging and established Latino/a artists from New Mexico and across the U.S.

The exhibition and Latino/a Imaginary collaboration grew out of the bi-regional conference titled Latino Literary Imagination: East Coast/South West Dialogue on Narrative Voices and the Spoken Word. The conference features Latino/a writers, critics and scholars at Rutgers University on April 8-9 and in Albuquerque on April 15-16.

View the complete program guide for the collaboration at www.516arts.org.

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