Dialogue/Presentation: Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán Exhibition (1977)

Date and Time: Tuesday, September 28, 2021, 7:00-8:30pm CST
Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/2X36CFq

Delving into shared Indigenous and Chicanx cultural histories, Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán was a 1977 exhibition at Harry S. Truman College that featured both Indigenous and Chicano artists and was organized by Movimiento Artístico Chicano (MARCh) & the Chicago Indian Artist Guild. A total of 52 participating artists and organizers including Loniel Poco, Joe Yazzie, Sharon Okee-Chee Skolnic, Sal Vega, Carlos Cumpián and many more participated in the show with posters made by Carlos Cortéz Koyokuikatl.

We’re honored to have Carlos Cumpián, poet and lead organizer of MARCh along with Sal Vega, local-muralist and exhibited artist, to share their experience and reflection on the show and how the title came about. Indigenous artists and scholar Dylan A.T. Miner, Ph.D will also account his interpretations of the show’s posters from his book Creating Aztlán: Chicano Art, Indigenous Sovereignty and Lowriding Across Turtle Island (University of Arizona Press). This event was developed and will be moderated by Jose Luis Benavides, who will start the conversation with a presentation of their research on the exhibition.

All are welcome to this open dialogue and presentation to highlight and learn more about the significance of this event with participating artists and scholars!

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Please register to receive the Zoom link.

This event was a postponed program from 2020. To access info about the initial program, please visit the project’s page on chuquimarca.com.

Closed Caption will be available. Discussion event will be recorded and published on Youtube.

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

Image source: Carlos A. Cortéz, Anisinabe Waki-Aztlan, 1977, linoleum cut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum

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

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Carlos Cumpián was born and raised in Texas and now lives in Chicago. He is the author of the poetry collections Coyote Sun (1990), Armadillo Charm (1996), and 14 Abriles (2010), as well as the children’s book Latino Rainbow: Poems About Latino Americans (1995, illustrated by Richard Leonard). His poems have appeared in many anthologies, including Emergency Tacos: Seven Poets con Picante, With a Book in Their Hands: Chicano Readers and Readership Across the Centuries, Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature, Dream of a Word: The Tia Chucha Press Poetry Anthology, and El Coro: A Chorus of Latino and Latina Poetry. Cumpián edits March Abrazo Press.

Salvador Vega was born on May 6, 1957 in Chicago, Il in the Little Village, La Villita, the 26th street barrio. He attended McCormick Chicago Public School where he became interested in art. Graduated from Harrison High School (CPS), where he started his work as a muralist. He painted his first murals there, “Mother Earth” and “Drug Sadness” and “La Azteca.” He worked with Mexican-born artist Aurelio Diaz on the mural “Xochilmilco” in the 18th street Pilsen barrio. Sal also collaborated with the late Rey Vasquez on a few projects but in Pilsen’s Dvorjak Park, Sal worked with the highly acclaimed artists Juanita Jaramillo and Marcos Raya. Vega also created a special portable mural for the alternative high school Latino Youth, Inc. He has had numerous solo exhibits across Illinois.

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

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Tags: Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán Exhibition (1977), Carlos Cumpián, Chicago, Chuquimarca, Dylan A. T. Miner, Jose Luis Benavides, Lower West Side, Sal Vega