Exhibit pushes limits
Cultural boundaries confronted in latest exhibit at euphrat
Sonia Easaw
Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: On Campus
Coffins lying on railroad tracks, regalos (gifts) shimmering in gold, silver, and security tape from Homeland Security, and a woven sarape (textile) with the words "Is it me … or just what I am wearing" are glimpses of the Moving Cultures (…all over the map) exhibit located at the Euphrat Museum of Art.
The De Anza College exhibit is a diverse portrayal of the world in transition, from crossing borders between countries, to changing cultural assumptions and stereotypes. Each display embodies this concept of migration. The exhibit encourages students and the public to open their eyes to new ideas, says Jan Rindfleisch, director of the museum.
The coffins on the tracks are part of a display by Eugene Rodriguez, whose grandparents traveled from Mexico to Chicago to work on the railroads, then came to California. A poem titled "The Journey" hangs above the display, its words provocatively asking how money can move around at the push of a button, but people are not allowed to move around in order to work. "Sometimes they don't make it. Sometimes they are raped, robbed or killed by gangs who ride trains," writes Rodriguez.
Railroad culture is also present in the collaboration of Marta Sanchez with Norma Cantù. Sanchez's great-grandfather, a lion tamer who died young because of a puncture wound from a lion, was part of a circus in Mexico that would entertain at the train yards. The series was inspired by the train yards near her San Antonio childhood home.
The concept of moving cultures is represented by the empty boxes covered in glitter and stickers from Homeland Security. These boxes, called balikbayan in Tagalog (going home), have traveled from San Francisco to the Philippines, and then back to Cupertino. They represent Filipinos returning to their homeland, or the boxes of gifts they bring home. This is the work of Christine Wong Yap.
"It's really about questioning. Questioning is a means of growing," said artist Kent Manske who created the Meaning Maker display along with Nanette Wylde. Their art is mobile. People can take the pamphlets from the display and answer the questions that lie within. The pamphlets are on the Internet at www.meaningmaker.org.
Michael Arcega and Vic De La Rosa work is also displayed. Arcega's watercolor piece and De La Rosa's textiles cover the museum walls, provoking viewers to find meaning in changing cultures and boundaries.
"There's not just one way to see the world," said Wylde. This multi-faceted exhibition can attest to that.
The De Anza College exhibit is a diverse portrayal of the world in transition, from crossing borders between countries, to changing cultural assumptions and stereotypes. Each display embodies this concept of migration. The exhibit encourages students and the public to open their eyes to new ideas, says Jan Rindfleisch, director of the museum.
The coffins on the tracks are part of a display by Eugene Rodriguez, whose grandparents traveled from Mexico to Chicago to work on the railroads, then came to California. A poem titled "The Journey" hangs above the display, its words provocatively asking how money can move around at the push of a button, but people are not allowed to move around in order to work. "Sometimes they don't make it. Sometimes they are raped, robbed or killed by gangs who ride trains," writes Rodriguez.
Railroad culture is also present in the collaboration of Marta Sanchez with Norma Cantù. Sanchez's great-grandfather, a lion tamer who died young because of a puncture wound from a lion, was part of a circus in Mexico that would entertain at the train yards. The series was inspired by the train yards near her San Antonio childhood home.
The concept of moving cultures is represented by the empty boxes covered in glitter and stickers from Homeland Security. These boxes, called balikbayan in Tagalog (going home), have traveled from San Francisco to the Philippines, and then back to Cupertino. They represent Filipinos returning to their homeland, or the boxes of gifts they bring home. This is the work of Christine Wong Yap.
"It's really about questioning. Questioning is a means of growing," said artist Kent Manske who created the Meaning Maker display along with Nanette Wylde. Their art is mobile. People can take the pamphlets from the display and answer the questions that lie within. The pamphlets are on the Internet at www.meaningmaker.org.
Michael Arcega and Vic De La Rosa work is also displayed. Arcega's watercolor piece and De La Rosa's textiles cover the museum walls, provoking viewers to find meaning in changing cultures and boundaries.
"There's not just one way to see the world," said Wylde. This multi-faceted exhibition can attest to that.
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