Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán Posters (1977-1980) dialogue with Nicole Marroquin & Dylan A. T. Miner, moderated by Jose Luis Benavides

Date and Time: Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 7:30-8:30pm CST

Zoom registration link: https://bit.ly/37vMGOi

Chuquimarca is proud to present a discussion about Carlos Cortéz Koyokuikatla’s Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán (1977-1980) exhibition posters with Nicole Marroquin and Dylan A.T. Miner, moderated by Jose Luis Benavides.

Join us in discussion about Carlos Cortéz Koyokuikatla’s posters as documents and ephemera of the Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán exhibitions that was put together by the Movimiento Artístico Chicano (MARCh) & the Chicago Indian Artist Guild in 1977 & 1980 at Harry S. Truman College and Uptown People’s Community Center.

Delving into shared Indigenous and Chicanx cultural histories, Nicole Marroquin and Dylan A.T. Miner will share their knowledge and experience with Cortéz Koyokuikatla’s work and their own respective practices. Marroquin will discuss the exhibition’s emergence in their digital archival project, Chicago Raza Research Consortium (@chicagorazaresearch). Miner will account the history and interpretations of the posters as written in their own book Creating Aztlán: Chicano Art, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Lowriding Across Turtle Island (University of Arizona Press).

Facilitated by Jose Luis Benavides as part of their own artistic research practice on Aztlán, this dialogue hopes to look at the cultural contribution of Cortéz Koyokuikatla, Chicago’s ongoing history of Indigenous and Chicanx artists and activists, and to bridge the works of Nicole Marroquin and Dylan A.T. Miner.

To receive Zoom link, please register here: https://bit.ly/37vMGOi

Made possible in part by a grant from Illinois Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly

Closed Caption will be available.
Event will be recorded and published on our Youtube channel.

For any questions or more information, please contact info@chuquimarca.com or visit Chuquimarca.com

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Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán, a little documented though significant exhibition at Harry S. Truman College, brought together two important Chicago-based grassroots arts organizations: Movimiento Artístico Chicano (MARCh) and Chicago Indian Artist Guild. These two organizations collaborated to put on two exhibitions of art, music, poetry and culture in 1977 and 1980. The exhibits were organized by artist and activist Carlos Cortéz Koyokuikatl and Chicago Indian Artists Guild director and artist Loniel Poco.

But what is the significance of the Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán exhibition? How was the relationship between Aztlán and Anišinabe Waki defined or constructed? What can be learned and imagined about past, present, or future Indigenous sovereignty and Chicanx solidarity?
Writing about the cultural and political importance of the posters for the exhibition, Dylan A.T Miner PhD states: “we understand that for Cortéz Koyokuikatl, Aztlán and Anishinaabewaki are one and the same,” unifying separated regions as one; “the land of the original peoples.”

We believe it is vital to review these exhibition posters as they speak to the unification of then Chicano/a and Native American Indian artists and activists. We propose this conversation to discuss what connections or disaffiliation are seen between past, present and future sovereignty or solidarity work and efforts. Also, as told in a recent statement to IL Humanities: “We’re honored to highlight Cortéz’ work as well as the artistic labor of two tremendous artists that are bridging communities, histories, and stories of resistance in such crucial and uplifting ways.”

Join us in this dialogue to commemorate the ~40th anniversary of the Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán (1977-1980) exhibitions that brought Chicanx and Indigenous artists and activists together!

-Jose Luis Benavides

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Nicole Marroquin is an interdisciplinary artist, teacher, researcher, and public scholar. She has published in the Visual Arts Research Journal, Counter Signals, Chicago Social Practice History Series, Organize Your Own: The Politics and Poetics of Self-Determination Movements, Revista Contratiempo, and AREA Chicago Magazine. She participated in the Bienial Continental de Arte Indigenas Contemporaria at the Museo Nacional De Culturas Populares, Mexico City. She is a Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz Women of Excellence Awardee, 3Arts Awardee and an Envisioning Justice Artist. She teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. @nmarroq

Dylan A.T Miner, PhD is an artist, activist, and scholar. He is Director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies, as well as Professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, at Michigan State University. In Spring 2019, he was Denison Visiting Professor of Native American Studies at Central Michigan University. In 2010, he was an Artist Leadership Fellow at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. He serves on the board of the Michigan Indian Education Council and is a founding member of the Justseeds artist collective. Miner is a registered citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario. @wiisaakodewinini

Jose Luis Benavides is a queer Latinx artist, filmmaker and educator. His work was recently featured in Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, Chicago, US (2020), Full Spectrum Feature’s – Chicago Cinema Exchange: Mexico City (2020), Onion City: Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago, US (2020), MSU Latinx Film Festival, Lansing, US (2020), and Revolutions Per Minute Festival, University of Massachusetts Boston, US (2020). He also programs video-art screenings through Sin Cinta Previa: Latinx & Queer Archive Video Series, which was awarded a POWER Project grant from the Art Leaders of Color Network (2018) and a Propeller Fund grant (2019). @lu3ge

Chuquimarca, also known as Chuquimarca Projects, is a library project space focused on the Native, Mexican, Caribbean, and Central and South American contemporary art and culture discourse in Chicago. @chuquimarca.projects

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Tags: Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán Posters (1977-1980), Chicago, Chuquimarca, Dylan A. T. Miner, Jose Luis Benavides, Lower West Side, Nicole Marroquin