Exhibition Runs: August 15 – September 15, 2022
Reception & Artist Talks: Saturday August 27, 4:30pm – 6:30pm
Artist Talks
We invite you to join us for an exhibition reception and artist talks at Harwood Art Center by Adrian Pijoan and Diego Medina on Saturday, August 27, 2022 with artist talks starting at 5:00pm. This event is free and open to all ages. For more informatin visit www.harwoodartcenter.org. Masks are optional and encouraged indoors.
Public Gallery Hours
This exhibition is open to view by the public on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am-3pm. Masks are optional and encouraged indoors.
Holy Land
Through the use of fantasy illustration, natural pigments, earth materials, and visualized narratives, I will create retelling a of New Mexican history that highlight its profoundly mystical importance. “Holy Land” is a show that draws upon historical narratives of what a Holy Land is, and how that is paralleled through the historical narratives and mythological lore of New Mexico. The show will include a combination of illustrations that place magic and myth alongside historical depiction as well as large non-traditional maps that highlight some of the more intricate spiritual and cosmological profundity of New Mexico. This show will also includes elements of written poetry as well as illustrations done on old maps of New Mexico that serve to imbue certain regional histories with the love and magic that are essential to experiencing the full mystical offerings of life.
About Diego
Diego Medina is a Piro-Manso-Tiwa artist, poet, historian, and educator whose family is one of the original Native families from the historic Mesquite district in downtown Las Cruces. As an artist, Diego’s work illustrates intricate metaphors that combine cultural knowledge and ancestral wisdom with fantasy and poetics. Diego also creates cartographical illustrations that combine ecological and cosmological knowledge with the process of prayer. For Diego, prayer is the finest art because it informs our conscious will, our expressions of love, connects us with sacred ancestral wisdom, and strengthens our spiritual kinship. In addition to creating art, Diego has a deep passion for archival research and borderlands Indigenous history.
Artist Statement
So often the imagery of childlike wholesomeness and fairytale magic has precluded communities of color in its representation. My work seeks to transform those narratives and offer visual spaces of love and wonder to my ancestors by combining fantasy imagery with cultural narratives. Through my illustration practice i honor the love and magic that my ancestors experienced and carried in their hearts by depicting them in mystical situations, accompanied by time-traveling poetry and magical accomplices.
