Somos Piedras: Indigeneity, Feminicide, and Migration in Central American Art

Event Information

Wednesday, March 8, 2017
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Founders' Room, UCLA James West Alumni Center

Presented by Dr. Kency Cornejo, Assistant Professor, Modern/Contemporary Latin American Art, University of New Mexico

To date Central America holds among the highest feminicide rates in the world, exceeding those in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Simultaneously, the repression and murder of indigenous environmental leaders is on the rise. Meanwhile, a wave of migrant Central American women and unaccompanied children continue to head north in search of refuge. This lecture will analyze contemporary art of Central America to discuss the underlying structures that connect Indigenous genocide, gender-based violence, and forced displacement for Central Americans. Through performance, video art, and other artistic interventions, this lecture explores how artists expose the traumas of war, neoliberalism, displacement, and repression of the female and indigenous body while condemning nations' complacency, placing Central America in both an artistic and broader socio-political context.

Refreshments will be available.

Hosted by the UCLA American Indian Studies Center
Co-sponsored by the UCLA Latin American Institute

UCLA is a tobacco-free campus. All-day parking ($12) and short-term parking (payable at pay stations) are available in Lots 2, 3 and 4 (enter the campus at Hilgard and Westholme avenues). For more information, call 310-825-7315.