Student-created Latino Museum launches at U-Md.
By Tom George
With “Oye como va” and upbeat Latin rhythms playing on the stereo and the artistic displays set up, Latin-American studies curator students transformed Stamp into their own museum.
The “Latino Museum”, which took place in Stamp on Dec. 9, featured the work of university student “curators” in AMST328, a class on Perspectives on Identity and Culture: Chicano/Latino Art & Museum Studies. The displays of murals, photos, and paintings were a culmination of students’ work throughout the semester.
The artwork was used to convey culture and social movements in the Latino community, such as civil rights, Latinos in film, mixed race issues, and community activism. “I came out of curiosity,” said economics professor Peter Coughlin. “I had wondered what Latino art looked like, [I was] very impressed by how it was related to social change. It shows that art can change your world.”
One of the exhibits was called “Libertad, Latino Street Art”. In this exhibit, a group of students, including Maryland basketball star Greivis Vasquez, a native Venezuelan who is also in the class, took pictures of murals in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of D.C, an area with a large Latino population.
The student curators said much of the murals, which were colorful and depict Latin themes, had been done by local children in the YMCA, and that Latinos in D.C. who used street art as a means of both expressing their culture and improving their communities, attendees said.
“They’ve taken street graffiti, which is seen as a negative thing, and turned it into a positive,” explains junior communication major Remy Groenthal, who worked on the exhibit. “[Latino muralists] are really making their community better.”
Other exhibits addressed different aspect of sociology and Latino culture. One exhibit featured photos of Latino activists during the 1960’s and 1970’s, when Latinos were largely overshadowed by other minorities during the Civil Rights movement.
Another exhibit, titled “Supermercado,” documented Latin-American grocery stores in Langley Park and how they create a sense of community and build Latino identity and culture. Other exhibits highlighted Latino actors and actresses in movies, and another covered mixed-race blacks and Latinos, and how their cultures have fused together in art and society.
Many students were pleased with the event. “It was the music that really set the tone for the event,” said sophomore government major Chris Pupillo. “It was a great educational experience, and I loved the Latin artwork.”
Robb Hernandez, the class’ teacher and the event’s organizer, said the goal of the event was not only to showcase students’ artwork, but to show how it reflects the Latino community. “The turnout was even more than I could have imagined,” Hernandez said. Hernandez had advertised heavily for the event, flyering around campus and through teachers and academic departments. He said another goal was to raise awareness for the U.S. Latino Studies minor.
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