A Tidal Wave of Rebellion: Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez
Immigration fascism tries to silence Mexican-born, Brooklyn-based artist's anti-ICE artwork
Introduction by Bruce Hobson, Mexico Solidarity Project, co-founder; Liberation Road member; Guanajuato, Mexico
I believe that culture in its many forms is essential for revolutionaries to stay alive, to keep moving forward.
In the Reflections section of the Mexico Solidarity Bulletin, we post cultural pieces from time to time, which are most often written by the artist Vicky Hamlin, who is also a member of the MSP bulletin committee and a Liberation Road member.
Each week I translate the bulletin from English to Spanish. When I first read Vicky’s Reflections piece about Victor Quiñonez and the closure of his show I was struck by how familiar this art feels, as it reflects a part of Mexican/American reality.
See what these powerful pieces say to you.
by Vicky Hamlin
Immigration fascism has shuttered and censored art across the US, from galleries to paper prints to digital platforms.
The latest chapter is the sudden shuttering of the Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez show at the University of North Texas, scheduled to be exhibited for three months. Titled Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá (“Neither from Here nor from There”) the show is a tour de force (meaning great!) display of Quiñonez’s talent and heart. And they closed it. A week after it opened.
“It’s been a trend in this country to suppress any kind of expression that’s going against what this administration is doing to civilians and this regime that’s been harming and murdering people,” Quiñonez told Hyperallergic.
“They say ICE is supposed to be helping people, but detention centers are just another word for privatized prisons,’ he continued. ‘My work speaks to the vulnerability of the communities affected by that.”
Faculty members wrote a letter denouncing the exhibition's abrupt shuttering without explanation, noting the university’s federal designation as an Hispanic-Serving Institution. Nine graduating students in the Studio Art MFA class have committed to withdrawing their upcoming thesis shows in protest. One, Carla Hughes, told Hyperallergic,“We now understand that our administration does not actually care about what we have to say, so we’re more interested in taking our work to our community than keeping it in the institution.” Public records revealed the discussions that went on before the cancellation.
To Be Both Personal and Universal
This is my piece, called Elevar la Cultura. It’s constructed of 200 coolers. Inside nine of the coolers, you see different ofrendas [offerings]. The ofrendas are dedicated to multicultural backgrounds, all representative of street vendors from all across the world. When you first come to this country, you’re limited for your work options. So for me, the cooler represents survival. It represents that hustle. It represents the cultural authenticity that comes from a lot of these street vendors and the goods that they provide and that they sell. I chose that as the symbol for this Mayan pyramid. These are all just meanings that I’m putting together as an artist to express my feelings about what’s happening with today’s administration, the way immigration is playing a role in deportation and separating families and bringing people to detention centers. I wanted to create some artwork that speaks to that and creates awareness and empathy for the people that it’s affecting right now.
—Marka27
Strangely, given the struggles of immigrants here, the Mexican art diaspora is alive and well in the United States. Quiñonez has found real success with his “neo-Indigenous” (his words) style. He can read his audience, because that audience is, well, him — his story, family, friends, neighbors, idols. To be personal and universal at the same time in your chosen art is a gift, and it’s what makes Quiñonez (and Bad Bunny too, imho, just sayin’) so across-the-board popular.
Quiñonez includes portraits of men and women, cartoon characters and bits and pieces from daily life mixed together with modern abstraction, brilliant color and traditional indigenous patterning, as in these pieces from this closed exhibition.
From painting, sculpture, textiles, graffiti, graphic design, fashion to sound installation and more, he continues to embrace both his past and current cultures and communities.
His installation called “I.C.E. Scream” is particularly touching because the ice popcart crashes a very sweet image of childhood against the horror of the ICE raids.
The pieces that incorporate graffiti show restraint in the image on canvas (like a father’s gentle love) and then wild abandon in the spray can art surrounding the canvas.
Marka27’s huge murals have gotten attention all over the world. They are magnificent, detailed and glorious. They define and lift up any neighborhood they are in.
A tidal wave is happening — a tidal wave of rebellion against the Make-America-White-Again, make-us-all-good-soldiers-for-Trump right-wing storm that seemed frighteningly strong at the beginning. They were wrong, we did not roll over and die. Powerful voices of resistance like Marka27 show that we have the collective will and spirit to take back what is ours — our history, our lives, our art.
Activist Vicky Hamlin, a retired tradeswoman, shop steward, and painter, shines the light in her art on the lives of working people and the world they live in.