The 2022 Terra Lectures in American Art centre on Latinx art, with an emphasis on Chicanx (Mexican American) artists, and the theme of migration - of people, ideas, and artworks, from the seventeenth century to today.
Art and activism converge as these lectures move across disciplinary, chronological, and geographical borders. We consider new approaches to "American" art, its borders, and contact zones. By posing strategic questions, these four talks demonstrate avenues of inquiry to decolonise art history.
The first lecture in the series, titled "Art and Radical Hospitality", is presented by Professor Charlene Villaseñor Black: What is the role of art and artists in the face of human suffering? This lecture considers that question, focusing on Chicana (Mexican American) artist Sandy Rodriguez's 2019 installation You Will Not Be Forgotten. Dwelling on her series of seven portraits of Central American children who died in US Customs and Border Protection in 2018 and 2019, I contextualize her art in relation to global migration crises. Investigation of Rodriguez's work in relation to theories of memory, postmemory, and trauma elucidate the power of art to inspire empathy. How can art enact radical hospitality?
Terra Visiting Professor of American Art at the University of Oxford 2021-2022, Professor Villaseñor Black is a leading expert on a range of topics related to contemporary Latinx art, the early modern Iberian world and Chicanx studies. She is currently Professor of Art History and Chicana/o Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2016, she was awarded UCLA's Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence for exceptional teaching, innovative research, and strong commitment to university services. Professor Villaseñor Black is also editor of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, and founding editor-in-chief of Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture (UC Press). Her most recent books include Renaissance Futurities: Art, Science, Invention and Knowledge for Justice: An Ethnic Studies Reader (both from 2019), the new 2020 edition of The Chicano Studies Reader, and Autobiography without Apology: The Personal Essay in Latino Studies, which she co-edited.
See Download Media menu on the right for Transcript and List of artworks.
