Panel Discussion: Cultural Identity and Representation

Oct 5, 2024 4PM-5PM

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is appreciated.

Join us for a conversation with Rebeca Méndez and Kathya Maria Landeros, two Visiting Artists who both engage deeply with questions of identity and representation within their work. Kathya Maria Landeros focuses on the Latine community and its diverse cultural narratives, exploring issues of migration, history, and belonging. Rebeca Méndez, through her interdisciplinary approach, explores cultural identity as it intersects with environmental concerns, addressing how cultural narratives influence and are influenced by environmental stewardship. This compelling conversation will be moderated by Alex Sánchez, founder and President and CEO of Voces Unidas de las Montañas, the first Latino-created and Latino-led advocacy organization in the central mountain region. He also leads Voces Unidas Action Fund, an affiliated organization. ​​​

Click Here to Learn More About our Latine Arts Programming.

Kathya Maria Landeros is a Mexican-American photographer and educator. Influenced by her bi-cultural upbringing, her work of almost two decades focuses on Latine communities and the exploration of history, migration, representation and belonging. Her research has been supported through fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Fulbright, and residencies at the Rayko Photo Center and the Center for Photography at Woodstock. Prior to joining the faculty at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she is currently the Knafel Assistant Professor of Humanities in the Department of Art, she taught at public institutions of higher education in northern California and Massachusetts.

Rebeca Méndez is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator examining reciprocal relationships and environmental justice in a multi-species world amid climate change, mass extinction, and a ravaging extractivist society. Solo exhibitions include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Anchorage Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Nevada Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oaxaca. Group exhibitions: 1st Gangwon International Triennale 2021, 55th Venice Biennial, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, El Paso Museum of Art, and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Méndez has received significant recognition including a California Community Foundation Fellowship; The Sally and Don Lucas Artists Residency; CODAaward in Public Spaces; inclusion into the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; induction into the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and the One Club Creative Hall of Fame; recipient of the Medal of AIGA and the National Design Award in Communication Design. Her work was showcased on the PBS NewsHour, Art and Culture Series CANVAS. She earned a BFA, an MFA, and received the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from Art Center College of Design. Méndez is a tenured professor in the Department of Design Media Arts and founder and director of the Counterforce Lab at UCLA.

Alex Sánchez is an experienced executive and community organizer. Alex has led other nonprofits, managed his own political consulting firm, and has extensive corporate and government experience at the senior management level. As a community leader, Alex volunteers and donates his time and talents to numerous causes, charities and civic institutions. He is currently a Trustee of Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, appointed by Gov. Polis in 2019 to a four-year term. Alex also currently serves on the boards of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), COLOR Action Fund, Conservation Colorado and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Alex has previously served on the governing boards of the Colorado Medical Board, GLBT Commission for the City of Denver, Latino Commission for the City of Denver, the National Latino Children’s Institute, and the Latin American Research and Service Agency. He is also a former Senior Fellow of the Mexican American Solidarity Foundation in Mexico City and served a 3-year term on the Consejo Consultivo for the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (CCIME), a federal agency under the Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico.