In the exhibition Mestizaje: Intermix-Remix, eight Latinx artists (identifying as Chicano, Chilean, Colombian, Mixteco, Mexican, and Mexican-American) explore what it means to claim a mixed-race identity consisting of both Indigenous and European descent.
The concept of mestizo (having Spanish-Indigenous ancestry) originated in the sixteenth century as part of a racial designation system created by Spanish and Portuguese colonizers in what is now considered Latin America. Today, the violent and lasting impacts of colonization can be difficult to fully comprehend.
Without seeking definitive conclusions or definitions, artists Marcela Rodríguez Aguilar, María José Castillo, Luis Fitch, Bobby Marines, Dougie Padilla, Maria Cristina Tavera, Xavier Tavera, and Vlocke Negro explore questions of ancestry and identity.
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