COMUNIDAD: Juntos Salvamos Vidas

Project overview

The artwork includes newsprint publications and t-shirts that were distributed to local grocery stores, farmers markets, cafes, and other places frequented by Latino, Mexican and Central American communities.

At first glance one of the publications looks like commonly used weekly advertisements from the Super Mercardo, showing specials on groceries and cleaning goods. But when read, the advertisements contain Covid-19 harm reduction messaging in clever ways using familiar visuals and text.   The second newspaper is intended to attract a younger audience and partly uses the visual format of the Loteria – a traditional family pastime and game of chance that is similar to bingo, but uses images on a deck of cards instead of numbered ping pong balls. Loteria is played by all age groups and the imagery is instantly recognizable to everyone. In this case the images reinforce harm reduction messaging.  Finally the artists created a limited edition of 1,000 t-shirts, using the Loteria image and text, that were only distributed to farm workers throughout the Monterey/Salinas Valley.

About the Artists

Angelica Muro received an MFA degree from Mills College in 2005, and a BA in Photography from San Jose State University in 1998. Recent exhibitions include Photo ID, Santa Cruz Museum of Art, Chico & Chang: A Look at the Impact of Latino and Asian Cultures on California’s Visual Landscape, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, Chica\Chic: La Nueva Onda/The New Wave of Chicana Art, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, You’re Breathing in It: Exploring the Studio and Alternative Art Strategies, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA, Domestic Disobedience, San Diego Mesa College, San Diego, CA, and Better to Die on My Feet, Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA. She is the recipient of the Herringer Family Foundation Award for Excellence in Art and the Trefethen Merit Award. Muro’s curatorial projects have been awarded grants from the Center for Cultural Innovation through the Creative Capacity Fund, the James Irvine Foundation for Intersections, and Adobe Youth Voices. She is co-founder, principal, and curator of Space 47 projects. Muro is the current Chair and an Assistant Professor of Integrated Media and Photography in the Visual and Public Art Department. Muro teaches photography, digital art, and media analysis courses.

Hector Dionicio Mendoza was born in Uruapan, Michoacan Mexico. He and his family relocated to the agricultural community of King City California in the mid-eighties. His professional development includes a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland CA where he was awarded the President’s fellowship which constitutes a full tuition scholarship. After he completed his Bachelor’s degree, Dio was invited to several artist-in-residence programs and exhibitions in Europe, including Kust Futur in Switzerland 2000, The Bossard Project in Berlin 2001, Casa Santos in Barcelona 2002, and The Putney Arts Center in London 2003. Dionicio’s awards include the Eureka Fellowship 2004 in California, Kunst Now 2005 in Berlin, and Eco-Conciente 2007 in Mexico City. In 2009 he received his MFA in Art from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Most recently he was awarded the prestigious Sarah and Don Lucas Artist-in-Residence Fellowship at Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts, Saratoga, California. He currently lives in Monterey and is an Assistant Professor in the Visual and Public Art Department. Mendoza teaches studio courses in sculpture, painting, and screen printing.

Follow the artists

angelicamuro.net   @muroprojects

@hector_dionicio_mendoza