Linear, oversimplified conversations surrounding the infinitely complex topic of human migration are nothing new. But they have become increasingly urgent and topical in a country where inhumane detention centers and controversial busing policies increasingly present migrants as parasites, burdens, or unwanted cargo to be managed instead of the complex living beings that they are. Opening in New York City the month before a contentious presidential election, El Museo del Barrio’s Flow States – La Trienal 2024 seeks to bring awareness and nuance to the conversation surrounding Latinx identity as rooted in migrational movement. Texas, a border state with a majority Hispanic population, is gainfully represented in the 33-artist show with four artists and the guest curator hailing from or having strong ties to the state.
María Elena Ortiz
The first time Maria Elena Ortiz, curator at the Modern Museum of Art Fort Worth, visited El Museo del Barrio in New York City’s Spanish Harlem it was to see a show curated by Deborah Cullen, Arte ≠ Vida: Actions by Artists of the Americas, 1960 – 2000. A survey covering fifty years of performative actions created by Latino artists in the United States and abroad, it was a milestone exhibition that left Ortiz transformed and inspired. It is fitting that Ortiz is now the guest curator for El Museo del Barrio’s Flow States. The three-person curatorial team, which includes El Museo’s chief curator Rodrigo Moura and curator Susanna V. Temkin made numerous studio visits in person and via Zoom before settling on the artists which they feel are a true representation of the vibrant and diverse landscape of contemporary Latinx art. Among those 33 artists, there are four Texans: Lance De Los Reyes, Verónica Gaona, Mark Menjívar, and Sarita Westrup.
The history of La Trienal actually goes back to a biennial. El Museo’s [S]-Files biennial shows, conceptualized in the late 1990s, honed in on a need to expand the public’s knowledge of and exposure to Latinx art. The shows were surveys of art by local artists of Latin American and Caribbean heritage living and working in the NYC region. They were taken to their zenith by curator and scholar Rocío Aranda-Alvarado who has, rightly, called the shows “a testament to the significance of [El Museo del Barrio] in the landscape of contemporary art, having launched the careers of many artists and expanded audiences for contemporary art by Latinx artists.” Flow States — La Trienal 2024 honors this rich legacy by continuing to highlight regional and national Latinx artists, but, for the first time this year has expanded its geographies to include artists in the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia in order to “reflect the complexities of diasporic flows.” This is reflective of the curatorial team, with Ortiz having lived and worked in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Florida, and now Texas, but also of the increasingly connected, globalized world in which we all reside — a beautiful but dizzying entanglement of movement and cultural synergy.
Simply put, the concept behind Flow States is to remind people that migration — movement from place to place — has always been a reality, even before the borders were. “I think that a lot of us [Latinx people] — our ancestors were displaced. So that notion of displacement is part of our histories but it’s not clear-cut: we are a very diverse group and often we are divided not only by the way we were raised but by economics and also nationalities,” Ortiz commented when asked about the transnational approach to the curation of the show. “So, curatorially, I think if we [can] disrupt the nation, we can start building better alliances and associations.” The exhibition is an opportunity to interact with the Latino experience “as a series of associations that we make with each other independent of our religious beliefs and our national backgrounds in order to constitute a strong political body.”
Sarita Westrup, “non-linear route II,” 2024, reed, mortar, metal, cord, paint, cochineal ink, 87 x 45 x 12 inches. Courtesy the artist and Erin Cluley Gallery. Photo: Loam Marketing
Raised in McAllen, Texas in a family that originally hailed from Mexico City, Westrup’s bicultural upbringing always included a keen awareness of her proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, a border characterized by porosity and vibrant, free movement. Similarly, in her studio, a bright purple-red, snake-like basket began to flow upward and downward over wooden supports, its honeycombed structure letting the air, light, and our eyes through. Part basket, part cosmic serpent, this beautiful and intriguing object was the result of a curatorial conversation between Sarita Westrup and curators Maria Elena Ortiz and Susanna V. Temkin. Born and educated in Texas — proudly identifying as Tejana — but currently in residence at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, Westrup describes her work as rooted firmly in the traditions of her Mexican upbringing and the world of craft, but created for a museum context. She was thrilled to hear she’d been curated into the show at El Museo allowing her work to be in dialogue with an expanded contemporary Latinx community with similar interests. She’s mindful that “craft [in the United States] has often been a non-diverse space,” and is excited to bring her interactions with the environments of the Texas-Mexico border and its aesthetic — concrete, the drape of a dead cactus, fences — to the table. At its core, her practice is a manifestation of her curiosity about how different materials can work together to tell a story. In the materially driven “non-linear route II,” created for the show, the reed, mortar, metal, cord, and cochineal ink are combined into an abstraction of movement: migration, displacement, wandering, exploration. Down to the parasitic-but-long-coveted cochineal insects that traveled the world for centuries being used by royalty to dye their finest robes, the materials physically and conceptually mirror the push and pull of existing as an immigrant: culturally appropriated by some, rejected and ejected by others, a curiosity to all. Her sculpture is in perfect keeping with the ideas behind Flow States, exploring the meandering ways in which humans (and other forms of life) have moved on our planet since the dawn of time.
Westrup’s early experiences of these cyclical movements between two countries / two worlds echo those of fellow Flow States artist Mark Menjívar who is based in San Antonio but was raised in a bicultural home in which movement was a constant. His childhood was spent mostly between Puerto Rico, El Salvador, and the United States. Fittingly, his work uses the migrational movements of birds to parallel the non-linear, migrational movements of human beings. Menjívar’s decade-long fascination with birds is directly reflected in his piece La Misma Canción (The Same Song), commissioned for La Trienal. This participatory project is just one in a series of ongoing, multi-site projects created by Menjívar in which he primarily works with Latinx communities. “Growing up having mixed heritage and identity is a highly complex thing. We often feel that we are ‘Ni de aqui, ni de allá’ [neither from here, nor from there] but actually I think we should say we are ‘De aqui Y de allá’ [from here AND from there] — we should claim both!” Like the birds who don’t discriminate between countries, states, or cities, being inclusive in his project for Flow States means helping communities embrace all the places they are from and all the facets of their identities. Menjívar’s hope, like Ortiz, is to create connections across the Americas and beyond, but to start by first creating connections locally.
Mark Menjívar, “La Misma Canción (The Same Song)”
For La Misma Canción (The Same Song), Menjívar initially drew inspiration from listening to birds in his backyard: “I had this beautiful idea, a moment of imagination in thinking that this bird [I was hearing, had also been] singing in my family’s backyard in El Salvador — la misma canción, the same song — but at a different time.” The unifying metaphor of sharing the same experiences in different lands united by the same skies is one that has the potential to appeal universally but is particularly poignant for people who are experiencing displacement themselves or in their communities. Menjívar worked with young people in his community in Texas leading bird walks and conversations with the San Antonio River Foundation, but also eventually moved these experiences to communities in Washington State, where they were experiencing a large influx of migrants. Participants migrants themselves or interested community members, created signs of welcome and farewell for the migrating birds they discussed — intentional and metaphorical proxies. Some of these signs will be included in the exhibition in New York, with the students’ signatures and credits on the labels. This is a particularly important detail to Menjívar who takes seriously the idea of helping empower students. To complement the installation, he will lead a community bird walk in Central Park in Manhattan on Friday, October 11 & Saturday, October 12.
An Associate Professor at the School of Art and Design at Texas State, Menjívar also holds a degree in Social Work and worked in that field for years before moving into academia and developing a fine art practice. Both have left their marks on him and it is no surprise that his work is deeply rooted in exploring how art, education, and community can engender positive change, and create connection and hope. “I realized quickly that I wanted to make art with people, not for people,” he asserts enthusiastically. Guest curator Maria Elena Ortiz made a point to comment that “his work really returns the power to the students he works with.” Returning agency to underrepresented or marginalized populations and communities is a common theme with many of the artists included in the show, but now, instead of a local or regional audience, their work has a national and international stage with the backing of one of the preeminent institutions championing the work of contemporary Latinx art.
