Contemporary Mexican artist Jorge Arreola Barraza is set to display his first solo exhibition in California at Cuesta College’s Harold J. Miossi Art Gallery. Titled Espacio de Paz, Barraza‟s exhibit will feature urban photography from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The exhibit runs October 2 – 30, with an opening reception on October 2, from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. The reception will include a lecture on contemporary Mexican border art at 5:30 p.m., followed by a Q&A with Barraza.
According to exhibit organizers, Barraza‟s work fits within the context of activist and border art in contemporary Mexico and within the long tradition of political art in Latin America. His photographs capture the collateral damage of the cartel violence plaguing the country in the last decade.
“Jorge‟s work is about an aesthetic of disappearance and decay, of forcing us to look at those voids, and the collateral damage of the drug war in the region,” said Megan Lorraine Debin, Cuesta College art history instructor. “In this way, it fits in with current trends in the contemporary global arts. There‟s something haunting about the crude reality of his images.”
Also a performance artist, Barraza creates conceptual „spaces of peace‟ and „spaces of love‟ intended to make community members feel safe. Preceding the exhibition opening, Barraza will stage such performance events on Cuesta College‟s San Luis Obispo Campus and in San Luis Obispo. For an updated listing of dates, times and locations, visit the Miossi Gallery website and FaceBook page.
About the Artist
Born in Ciudad Juarez, on the border with El Paso, TX, Barraza has witnessed the economic devastation of the violence at the Mexican border. He earned his Bachelor‟s degree in Visual Arts at the University of Ciudad Juarez and a Master‟s degree, also in art, from the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City. His work has been exhibited in Houston, Juarez, Madrid, Mexico City, and Sydney, and has been published in catalogs in Mexico and Spain. In 2011, he placed first in an exhibit at the UNAM Art Museum. In 2015, he published his first novel, Amor No Juarez. He lives and works between Ciudad Juarez and Mexico City.
About the Gallery
The Harold J Miossi Art Gallery is located in room 7170, on the San Luis Obispo campus of Cuesta College. It is open Monday-Friday, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. and the 1st and 3rd Sundays from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, please call (805) 546-3202.