Make Tacos Not War

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Ana Hernandez, “La Güera,” 2019

oil on canvas, 24” x 25” (private collection, courtesy the artist)

As efforts to combat racism ramp up in Canadian society, it may be time to visit the UBC Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver for Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio. The exhibition is by 33 Mexican American artists who identify as Xicanx (pronounced as chi-can-x), the gender-neutral term for Chicano or Chicana, people born in the United States to parents or grandparents from Mexico. It is provocative, colourful, often humourous, and always political. 

The show, which continues until Jan. 1, has roots in a movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s to fight for social justice and civil rights. Early Chicano culture, also known as El Movimiento, included a large cadre of artists. That continues today as new generations of Xicanx artists take up the torch to fight injustice directed at Mexican Americans, immigrant workers, and queer and non-binary artists. The show includes works from 1970 to 2022.

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Judith F. Baca, “Tres Marias” (detail), 1976

archival digital print, 36” x 36” (collection of the artist, photo courtesy Donna Deitch)

One of the earlier works, Judith F. Baca as La Pachuca, a 1976 performance installation, was ahead of its time. Baca created Pachuca – the female equivalent of Pachucos, rebellious 1940s Mexican American men dressed in zoot suits – by transforming at a vanity table into the pencil skirt-wearing, unapologetically strong character. The event is represented by five large black and white photographs taken during the performance. The work signals that women were an important part of the early macho community of Xicanx activists.

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Rudy Treviño, “Lettuce Field with Target and Skull,” 1975

acrylic on canvas, 30” x 24” (collection of the artist, photo courtesy Lee Young)

Labour exploitation and unrest are prominent themes in Xicanx art. Rudy Treviño’s painting, Lettuce Field with Target and Skull, is composed of two sections. The bottom part portrays a skull flanked by two heads of iceberg lettuce, representing the suffering and death of migrant labourers. The upper section depicts lush rows of lettuce and an upside-down bull’s-eye target that evokes the violence encountered by workers during their struggle to unionize.

Alejandro Diaz, known for campy and political signs, began using everyday materials out of necessity after moving to New York from Texas in the late 1990s as a young artist. A day job only covered rent, so Diaz began painting cardboard signs and selling them on the street. “Significantly, as I continued making these signs, the humour became infused with politics, art world commentary, and socio-economic issues of concern,” Diaz is quoted as saying on an exhibition label. Later slogans appeared in neon, a form of equally common urban signage. One of these works, Make Tacos Not War, is in the show.

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Debora Kueztpal Vasquez, “Citlatli: Cuando Eramos Sanos,” 2012

acrylic on canvas, 81” x 52” (collection of the artist, photo courtesy Ansen Seale)

Murals play a large role in Xicanx art, not a surprise given the Mexican muralist tradition, which included José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera. Some Xicanx murals are calls to action, while others detail the history of a particular Mexican American community. A visual documentary of Xicanx murals from various American cities is projected onto a large screen, which can be watched from repurposed cinema seats placed nearby. Text on the gallery wall beside the projection  sums up the impact of Xicanx murals: “A tool for resistance, a vehicle of empowerment.”

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Roberto Jose Gonzalez, “No Hate, No Fear,” 2019

acrylic on canvas, 40” x 96” (collection of the artist, courtesy the artist)

Many Xicanx artworks are heartbreaking. The 2019 diptych, El Paso 8/3/19 and No Hate, No Fear, by Roberto Jose Gonzalez, honours the victims of one of the deadliest mass murders of Latinos in modern times, the 2019 shooting of 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

Nearby, a digital portrait series by Oree Orignol shows 100 people of colour killed by police since the start of the century. The didactic notes it’s an ongoing project to support the struggle of families and activists against state-sponsored terrorism that targets communities of colour. Orignol’s graphics can be downloaded for free, a way to give visibility to victims.

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Alfred J. Quiroz, “Muneefist Destiny,” 1996

mixed media on mahogany panel, 108” x 156” (collection of the artist, courtesy the artist)

A good place to end the show is at Altar for the Spirit of Rasquaschismo, an installation with a spoken-word video component. Made this year by David Zamora Casas, the colourful altar features feathers, electric candles, paper flowers and photographs, fusing Aztec and Catholic sensibilities with Mexican, Texan and Xicanx queer identity. In the middle, highlighted in a gold frame, is a video loop of Casas, who takes ownership of racist terms historically used to identify Americans of Mexican origin. The installation is a paean to self-love, so vital in troubled times. ■

Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio at the UBC Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver from May 12, 2022 to Jan. 1, 2023.

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