2 - 3 p.m. PST
Dr. Claudia Zapata, May 9
Radical Printing: Chicano and Latinx Graphics since 1965
Activist artist roles are fundamental to counter our own perceived experiences, for the political print demands an instigative motion to carve out an alternative future, not of fiction or speculation, but a tangible promise for a better tomorrow. The lecture “Radical Printing: Chicano and Latinx Graphics since 1965” details Chicano and Latinx artists’ generational legacies as they use the political print as a counter-narrative. Zapata will cover resistance images that have played significant roles in advocating a new social consciousness, acting as markers for communal empathy and political solidarity. Political printmakers like Rupert García, Yolanda López, and Ernesto Yerena Montejano exemplify activist artists' concurrent positions to demand civil disobedience, as Zapata argues, while challenging art world conventions to relay their timely messages.
Claudia E. Zapata (they/them) earned their Ph.D. in art history at Southern Methodist University’s RASC/a: Rhetorics of Art, Space and Culture program. They received their BA and MA in art history from the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in Maya art from the Classic period (250-900 CE). Zapata was the curator of exhibitions and programs at the Mexic-Arte Museum. From 2018-2022, Claudia was the curatorial assistant of Latinx art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Currently, Zapata is a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA. Their current research analyzes Chicanx and Latine/x creators in Web3.