SALPICA

I was picked to be part of an artist exchange called SALPICA, it’s a project being planned partly by Ilan Stavans with the purpose of bringing together latino, afro and indigenous artists from the north and the south. The exchange is of 6 US artists and 14 Central and South American artists representing countries of Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia and is scheduled to last three weeks. We’re about 6 days into the exchange and it has been great to meet all the artists and begin a dialogue with these artist around issues of indigeneity and the role of art in our lives. I will be writing more about the project as well as twittering, for now here is the first blog entry I wrote for the SALPICA blog.

The best thing I heard today was Benjamin explaining to me about la nueva propia historia and how today we are creating tomorrows new traditions. Being surrounded by all the indigenous perspectives here helps me understand my place in the world better and how as a Xicana, my role is to contribute to our ever-changing world view today.