Youth Arts Fellowship Exhibition (Summer 2020)

Fellows: Ernestina Zavala, Estella Burque (Mvskoke), Noe Sesmas, Antonio Ruiz, Desirae Barragan (Gabrielino Band of Mission Indians), Fabian Pugal (Desert Cahuilla), Lauren Nicole (Tongva/Chumash), Gabby Claro, LeeAna Espinoza Salas (Cahuilla), Raven Freebird (White Earth Mississippi Band of Ojibwe), Xitlally Lopez, Danyell Mayen, Gicela Galvez (Mixtec), Arianna Perez (Indigenous diaspora), Madison Garcia (Kumeyaay), Ishidro Sesmas, Devan Rose (Yaqui), Looks into the Distance (Mēhxica-Nahua/Chichimeca), Curly Dynamite, Isabella Pedroza, Marissa Aranda (Tongva)

*workshop assistants

My name is Ernestina Zavala, I am 23 years old and from Hawthorne, CA. I am of Creole and Mexican descent and I take pride in my multiethnic blood. I am an artist of many mediums, but my focuses are fashion and painting. My goal is to continue to inspire people of color that their voice has the power to create change in this world.

This work that I have submitted is a clear reflection of my journey with this program. To me, this is the beginning of a beautiful lifelong process of learning and unlearning. These pieces were simple assignments that ended up helping break down an entire barrier I had within myself to even call myself an artist.

Estella Burque is a 16-year-old Native student residing in Highland Park on Tongva Land.

This piece speaks directly to my identity as a Native woman in today's America. My given Native name is Cufe Cvmpv (pronounced Choofy Chumby), which translates to Sweet Rabbit. My Native name is such an important thing to me, as it helps me feel rooted in my community and identity.

Noe Sesmas is first generation born individual from Mexican immigrant parents. They are currently pursuing their Bachelors of Fine Arts in Photography and will be graduating in Fall 2020 from San José State University. They are continuing their exploration of their roots while expressing themselves through many different art forms.

El Jardín de Mi Tía Abuela is an exploration of the flowers that had a strong influence in my early childhood. It’s created in honor of my Tía Abuela Chepa who played a strong roll in my love for plants of all kind.

I am Antonio Ruiz, 20 years old, and I reside in Riverside (Cahuilla Territory). Art mediums I engage in are painting, print making and beading. I create art that is either very personal or political. My favorite aspect of creating art is being able to play with colors in a way that is unique and appealing to the eye.

Love Our (Plant) Relatives was created to emphasize the importance of loving and caring for our plant relatives that have helped our communities for generations. Western society has commodified plants, making people view them as items rather than relatives that need to be valued and respected. This piece combats that idea and is intended to get people to decolonize the way they view plants.

My name is Desirae Barragan and I am an enrolled member of the Gabrielino Band of Mission Indians. I am a second year at UCLA and studying American Indian Studies and Human Biology and Society. I also am a small business owner of a Native Made Jewelry brand @coastaldesires.

Beading and Digital Art have truly allowed me to capture my personality through art in a form that I can share with all. My tribal colors are red, black, and white and as a California Native, I have seen the divide or traditional and modern society and practices. The pair of earrings were handmade by me and the background was made by a kaleidoscope effect. The horizon view capture the thoughts in my brain as I begin every project.

Fabian has been doing art for about 10 years now experimenting with multiple mediums and trying to keep this passion alive. What started off as “vandalism” became art. A Desert Cahuilla Native trying to provoke people’s mind and inspire them to speak through Art.

Print: Is of John Wayne, who we know as a Hollywood cowboy who killed countless natives. This was all Hollywood and acting though detrimental to the image and idea of the Native American in so many ways. So I say boycott Hollywood... no, death to Hollywood and the false portrayal of Native Americans. On a side note: John Wayne’s teeth Hey Yah.. Hey Yah.

Lauren Nicole is a Southern California based creative, who works in a variety of styles and mediums. She draws inspiration from her indigenous heritage, being of Tongva and Chumash descent, her spirituality, and her love of nature. From a young age, Lauren used art to process significant and challenging life experiences. Therefore, healing and a woman's perspective are significant themes in her work.

Many times, my relationship with others was based on a single facet of my life, but we are human and multifaceted by nature. This piece is an expression of every part of me, the loves and the hates, the comfortable and the difficult, the healthy and the healing. If you want to know me, why not take all of me?

Why Not Take All of Me

Gabby Claro is a 22-year-old artist from South Central LA. Focusing on mediums such as screen printing and painting, Gabby’s work is deeply rooted in social consciousness and empowerment.

Madres is a digital collage heavily inspired by my abuelas stories, journeys, and life. The waters shown are pictures I took while visiting their homelands, while the the California Poppy flowers are to honor the lands in where my family currently resides.

My name is LeeAna Espinoza Salas and I was born and raised in Corona, California. I am a descendant of the Cahuilla band of Indians of Southern California. The art that I create is reflective of my journey as an individual, but more importantly, as a member of the California Native community. This work is important for me in order to shift the narrative of what it is to be an Indigenous woman.

This piece is representative of the intersections of my upbringing and the influences that have made me who I am today. Pictured are my maternal grandparents who helped raise me, as I was raised by a single mother. My late grandfather was a construction worker and musician. His work ethic and passion for music inspire me continuously. “Sin Ti” was my grandparents song to each other and allows me to reflect on their love for one another, but also life without him. In the center of the canvas is a five point star, representative of my Cahuilla heritage and the resilience of our people.

Raven Freebird is a citizen of White Earth Mississippi Band of Ojibwe. She is a community organizer, college graduate, poet, friend, and family member. Raven is a former foster youth first generation raised on Tongva Lands. She love writing.

To me, my art represents the revolution that is happening in our hearts, that our words do no justice in explaining. Art is decoration for time, it can show the world as is, where it was, or where you want it to go, maybe even all at once. At first I was making these pieces because I was lucky enough to be in this program, by the end of the creating and learning I found out I made these pieces as my stamp in time for all my relations impeded by colonialism.

My name is Xitlally Lopez I am 19 years old and live in East LA. Growing up in both South LA and East LA I've learned to communicate and express myself with my art.

The art piece that I created is very meaningful to me because I have many friends of different ethnicities. The older we grew a lot of my friends have been wrongly accused, hurt, and killed by cops and nothing has been done to justify what they've done. By making this art piece I hope it will be at least a little help for our friends, families and our communities stand up for what we believe in and make our world better.

I am an Indigenous artist of Mixtec-Oaxacan roots. My art is heavily influenced by my cultural background and my upbringing. When I start a new piece it is usually rooted in my own healing, platonic love, or community. I am currently redefining what it means for me to be an artist, and I am still coming into my own artistry.

Glimpse of an Indigi-Punx is a digital collage encompassing my solidarity with Indigenous, Afro-Native, and Black communities in so-called U.S. (and beyond). This piece is a pictorial reminder to myself (and anyone else that may feel called) to engage in a life-long journey of anti-racism and anti-colonial work. The work is not done until we achieve Indigenous Sovereignty and Black Liberation.

Art Description: The background is an Indigenous People’s Day Poster (L.A. - Tongva 2018) and B.L.M. Sign (Black Trans, Non-binary, & Queer Lives Matter). The center of this piece showcases my (unfinished) jacket with beaded patches and my hands holding a snake plant. The three patches state: I am on Tongva Lands, In Aunties We Trust, and Land Back.

My name is Arianna, and I’m a 19 year old artist living on Tongva lands. I often feel that my identity is a mystery to me. There is still a lot that I don’t know about my lineage. Because of that, I strive to utilize my art and poetry in a way that allows my dreams to fill in the cracks of what often feels like a broken identity. Most of my art revolves around nature, in which I try to focus on representing animal and plant relatives.

To me my artwork is a representation of vulnerability, resilience, and celebration. I love animals and plants, so I wanted to incorporate them in my art in a way that reminds me that their existence is always interconnected with my own. The zine I made focuses more on poetry, which is a lot of more personal to me. I love to write in an imaginative way that hopefully embodies a dream like sense. I’m fascinated by dreams, and the powerful possibilities that they carry in building an empowering future that prioritizes creativity, and a collective well being. Dreaming is an act of resistance against colonial structures of power that try to prevent us from believing that something other than our reality, is possible.

Poetry From YesterdayCLICK TO VIEW ZINE — Poetry From Yesterday
CLICK TO VIEW ZINE

I’m Madi Garcia I am 21 years old, a current student at the University of California Riverside where I am double majoring in History and Native American Studies. I am Kumiai, beader and now a digital zine artist.

This is the first digital collage I ever made. It is meaningful to me because it kind of tells a story. I wanted this digital collage to be a story because my people are storytellers. This is the story of the women nation and how I see and understand it to be.

My name is Ishidro and my art reflects my versatile identities. Since I am unable to state my tribal lineage, I was taught by my grandmother to embrace the little that I do know about myself—we are indigenous and my ancestors are native to the “Americas.” Similarly, my creativity has a similar approach. I have learned many art forms, and with the amount of practice and (sacred) knowledges, my art contains many elements which I owe credit and acknowledgement to all the femmes, elders, teachers, and community/ies that have shown me the path which leads me home—back to the roots.

My art work mirrors my willingness to heal. I argue part of my healing process consists of opening myself up to change and growth. As a result, the new mediums that I have learned such as beading, print-making, and painting affirm: beauty/art can be made after overcoming the challenges that arise during the (healing) process. Not only did these mediums help me identify unresolved traumas, they provided healthy outlets to channel my energy, thoughts, emotions, and prayers.

My name is Devan Rose and I identify as Yaqui. My art is my way of reconnecting to a people, tradition, and way of life that has been stolen from me and many other POC through forced colonization. I want to learn all that I can about our past so I can translate that into our time and our future to create our own way through our ancestors.

My work represents the solidarity between two groups that are not always mutually exclusive: Black and Indigenous people.

For my Father.

My name is Jorge Gallegos Chicnahue Coatl Tlachia Inin Ilhuicac, i am a queer 2 spirit activist if the Mēhxica-Nahua and Chichimeca peoples. I am a multi medium artist, consisting of beadwork, paint, ceramics, regalia making, print making, etc. I created this piece with the participants of the Metzli Projects youth summer program; our theme was based around indigenous plants and herbal medicines.

I made this piece titled "Nopālli Nopālli", which means "Cactus Cactus" in Nahuatl, because growing up, cactus and their fruits (tunas) where a part of my childhood; they are nostalgic to me, they remind me of my days as a youngin’ venturing around DTLA and purchasing a box of tunas from fruit vendors, they remind me of my grandmother who would always bring us a box for me and my sistar. This piece reminds me of home, and brings sweet memories of my youth.

Curly Dynamite (all pronouns): I am of many things and cultures. Constantly in search for the root of my being in a concrete jungle. My art is a form of communication with others. Through art I learn to adapt and process. my art is not up for interpretation and consumption, it is an interpretation of my lived experience. I live and I create. Never produce.

I was finally able to vocalize that my being is not political, but rather of the human experience. As an artist I am constantly interpreted and folks see what they want to. They create their perspective of my works and label it—-describe it— within their comfort. These pieces of art represent my journey in not only reclaiming my brilliance but also setting boundaries within a society that would rather see me silent than empowered.

My name is Isabella Pedroza, I am the youngest of 5 kids. I am the only child who has taken an interest to art which is very important to me because it makes it my thing. Art is my escape.

My art piece is a Peruvian Tumi which is a ceremonial knife used in animal sacrifices and as a Peruvian and Mexican woman I grew up not seeing my Peruvian culture as much as i saw my Mexican culture displayed, so this art piece is for the little girl who now wishes she saw just a little more of her Peruvian culture.

I am a youth Tongva and I have been introduced to my tribe since I was an infant. I chose art and beading as a way to heal through patience. I like to produce artwork that is straight forward and noticed by first sight.

My piece is a cross that represents the dying of water. Water shortage for our people has become a big issue and we are loosing that sacred connection. So I used mixed media to represent our ancestors trying to reconnect to us in a way through water.

Click on the image to view the zine.