Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture: Thinking About Migration Through Latinx Art

Dr. Charlene Villaseñor Black (UCLA) will deliver the lecture "Thinking about Migration through Latinx Art." Dr. Villaseñor Black's lecture will ask,

Can art effect political change, and if so, how? Can it move us to action, empathy, and hope? I consider these questions as I investigate Chicanx (Mexican American) artists’ responses to global migration, in particular, Los Angeles artist Sandy Rodriguez (born 1975). Her 2019 installation, You Will Not Be Forgotten, comprised of twenty works, was created with traditional Indigenous materials and techniques. Featuring an unusual series of portraits, it commemorates seven Central American child migrants who died in US Customs and Border Protection during 2018 and 2019. I consider the portraits in the context of practices of memorialization, both contemporary and historical, secular and sacred. Why talk about art in the face of such heart-wrenching injustice?

The lecture is free and open to the public.  A reception will follow.