2019 Artist in Residence amplifies indigenous culture and celebrates coexistence through kite making and mural painting
For the second year running, Tom Tom and The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative have collaborated on hosting an Artist in Residence. This creative figure engages with a variety of programs aimed at educating and inspiring the Charlottesville community for the week of Tom Tom and beyond.
Federico Cuatlacuatl is a Mexican Indigenous artist born in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico whose work is invested in disseminating topics of Latinx immigration, social art practice, and cultural sustainability.
Building from his own experience growing up as an undocumented immigrant and holding DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Cuatlacuatl’s research is primarily concerned with the pressing social, political, and cultural realities Latinx undocumented immigrants face in the United States.
Cuatlacuatl immigrated to Indiana and received his MFA in Digital Arts at the Bowling Green State University. Subsequently, Cuatlacuatl’s independent productions have been screened internationally at film festivals in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Finland, Greece, England, India, France, and Portugal. As the founder and director of the Rasquache Artist Residency in Puebla, Mexico, he remains actively involved in socially-engaged works and binational endeavors.
KITE MAKING WORKSHOP & EXHIBITION
Presented in Partnership with the Charlottesville Mural Project
Cuatlacuatl’s exhibit “Desencabronamiento” will open at The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative during the week of Tom Tom and run through the month of April. The display will use kites and videography to highlight culture and tradition.
Engage with Cuatlacuatl’s work—and even create alongside him—at a wide range of community events during the week of Tom Tom:
Monday, April 8: Cuatlacuatl begins painting mural, 1801 Broadway Street
Thursday, April 11 (2:45 pm): Kite Making Workshop, Common House
Saturday, April 13 (1:30 pm): Kite Making with Federico Cuatlacuatl, Market Street Park
Sunday, April 14 (7:00 pm) Exhibition Opening | “Federico Cuatlacuatl Presents: Desencabronamiento” at The Bridge PAI
MURAL PAINTING
Presented in Partnership with the Charlottesville Mural Project
Additionally, Cuatlacuatl will begin painting a mural piece titled Senyelistli at 1801 Broadway Street (the Sun Tribe Solar building) during his residency. He intends to provide an opportunity for teenagers to work as artistic assistants on the project. The mural design signals symbiosis; it highlights technology and nature’s coexistence—a theme affecting everything natural and artificial, biological and technological, digital and organic. The piece also pays tribute to the Native Americans of present-day Virginia by highlighting the symbiotic, nature-embracing lifestyle at the heart of indigenous communities.
Presented in partnership with
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