Topic: Memory

Large hand-painted map of the Gulf of Mexico on amate paper. Rendered in muted earth tones, blues, and greens, the work layers coastlines, rivers, ships, animals, Indigenous and colonial imagery, environmental references, and scenes of resistance across the Gulf region. “Gulf of Mexico” appears in gold at the center. Historical and contemporary events unfold simultaneously, creating a visual narrative of colonialism, migration, ecology, and cultural resilience.

Outlaw Paper: Sandy Rodriguez’s Resistance Map of Gulf of Mexico

Veronica Pesantes Vallejo

Nine rectangular handmade bars of soap arranged in two rows on a white display surface in a gallery setting. Each bar is composed of layered colors, primarily deep blues, bright turquoises, reds, and dark browns, giving them a striated, geological appearance. Each bar is embossed with a word pressed into its surface; visible words include “NEGRE,” “AFRO,” and “BLACK.” The bars vary slightly in color combination and show traces of organic material embedded within the glycerin. Their handmade quality is evident in the slight irregularities of their surfaces and the uneven distribution of color and herbs throughout each bar.

Material Memory: Francheska Alcántara’s Pedagogy of the Archive

Denisse Brito

Votive Pedagogy: Activating Historical-Spiritual Worlds in Santa Barraza’s retablos

Sonja Elena Gandert

Ongoing Contestations: Kathy Vargas’s My Alamo

Deanna Ledezma

Made of Traces: Diasporic (Re)Assemblies in Terrestrial Bodies

Clara Maria Apostolatos

A film still in black and white shows two feet in a pair of low-heeled white shoes against a desert landscape.

With All Her Belongings: The Diasporic Middle Ground in Maria Cristina (Tina) Tavera’s Zozobra

Jamie L. Ratliff

A person with dark skin wearing a yellow dress is sitting and pulls an opaque plastic helmet over their face. They are surrounded by small video screens and tropical foliage.

Las Nietas de Nonó: Ilustraciones de la Mecánica and Spaces of Refusal

Estefanía Vallejo Santiago

A jaguar statue sits atop a tri-fold display covered in black fur with framed black and white images to the right and left of a middle section that includes an assortment of books, human remains, and other objects dipped in blood and gold.

Genesis and Apocalypse in Raphael Montañez Ortiz’s The Memorial…

Néstor David Pastor López

Colonial Atmospheres: On Sofía Gallisá Muriente’s Celaje

Maria Zazzarino

Mother Water

Nathan Xavier Osorio