Counter Colón-ialismo

This multi-site collaborative exhibition was held in honor of the the 500-year anniversary of Colombus' "discovery" of the Americas. Colón (Columbus in Spanish) notably shares the same root of such words as colonialism, colony, and colonize. While this catalog seeks to mark the five centuries since Columbus' arrival, it begs audiences and readers alike to consider: what is there to be "celebrated?" Curators from the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego, CA; Movimiento Artístico del Río Salado (MARS) in Phoenix, AZ; and MEXIC-ARTE Museum in Austin, TX gathered works by artists from southwestern border states with themes relating to colonization—namely invasion, mestizaje (roughly translated as "racial mixing"), and resistance. Focusing on their individual experiences and perspectives as vehicles to understanding the legacy of the colonial narrative, these artists position history as the necessary context to understanding the truth of the present. Artists include Isaac Artenstein, Karen Atkinson, David Avalos, Diana Rodriguez Cárdenas, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Steven Bernard Jones, Jean Lamarr, Carm Little Turtle, Hung Liu, Gilbert "Magu" Luján, James Luna, Vicky Meek, R. Carlos Nakai, Alfred J. Quiróz, Deborah Small, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, Regina Vater, and Lawrence M. Yañez.