The mixed-media Mexican folk art exhibit Retablos: Miracles on the Border will be on display at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Art Gallery Sept. 4-30, with an opening reception and lecture by Latin American anthropologist Jorge Durand on Sept. 11.
Vanderbilt’s Center for Latin American Studies is collaborating with Sarratt on the exhibit and lecture, which are open to the public, along with a workshop for K-12 teachers and student art activities in some area schools.
"We hear many news stories about immigration and immigrants, but we know far too little about the hopes and dreams that motivate people to make the huge sacrifices that immigration entails," said Edward F. Fischer, director of the Center for Latin American Studies and professor of anthropology. "These retablos vividly capture the emotions and uncertainties experienced by migrants."
Retablos are small, colorful paintings on sheets of tin or wood that honor a particular Catholic saint or the Virgin Mary. "Few forms of religious folk art are as abundant or expressive as Mexican retablos," said Jorge Durand, professor of anthropology at the University of Guadalajara and co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, which collects data and conducts research about Mexican migration to the United States.
Durand said that the images and texts in Retablos: Miracles on the Border are from Mexican migrants who have endured the troubles and difficulties of crossing the border in search of employment in the United States. The retablos depict stories of dangerous or threatening events from which the migrants have been "miraculously" delivered through the intervention of a holy image included on the artwork.
Each retablo in the exhibit is accompanied with relevant text. "The texts capture not only the physical, but also the social phenomena of Mexican migration," said Durand, who has done extensive research on the Mexican migration to the United States.
Durand will lead the teachers’ workshop, where ideas for incorporating retablos and the themes they represent into the classroom curriculum will be discussed. The workshop, open to all interested K-12 teachers, will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 11 at Sarratt Student Center, Room 189. Durand’s lecture will be from 4 to 5 p.m. in Buttrick Hall, Room 102, with the reception afterwards at Sarratt. For more information, click on www.vanderbilt.edu/clas/outreach.
Durand earned his doctoral degree at the University of Toulouse-Le Mirail. He is the co-author of Crossing the Border: Research from the Mexican Migration Project (Russell Sage Foundation, 2004), Miracles on the Border: Retablos of Mexican Migrants to the United States (University of Arizona, 1995); and Clandestinos (Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, 2003), among other publications. He has memberships in the Mexican Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society and National Academy of Sciences.
The Center for Latin American Studies is also working with art students at Glencliff and Hillsboro high schools and University School of Nashville to help create their own retablos. For more information on the student art exhibit, contact Sarah Birdwell at sarah.b.birdwell@vanderbilt.edu.
While the center began in 1947 as the Institute for Brazilian Studies, it has since expanded its areas of expertise to include Maya anthropology and archaeology; the study of democracy building and economic development; Latin American literature and languages; and African populations in Latin America and the Caribbean. More information on the center is available by clicking on www.vanderbilt.edu/clas.
Media contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, 615-322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu