Event Description:  Curator, author, visual artist, and educator, Amalia Mesa-Bains, talks about Dia de Los Muertos during a time of national mourning and grief.  Best known for her large-scale installations that reference home altars and ofrendas, her work engages in a conceptual exploration of spiritual practices that addresses colonial and imperial histories, the recovery of cultural memory, and their roles in identity formation.  In her writings, she examines the formation of Chicana identity and aesthetic practices; the shared experiences of historically-marginalized communities in the United States, especially among women of color; and the role of multiculturalism within museums and cultural institutions. Her essay, "Domesticana: The Sensibility of Chicana Rasquache," theorizes domesticana as a set of aesthetic strategies that use space and experiences historically associated with Mexican-American identity as sites for Chicana feminist reclamation.  As an artist her works have been exhibited in both national and international venues and her publications include “Homegrown-Engaged Cultural Criticism, a collaboration with bell hooks reissued by Routledge Press 2017. She is a recipient of a distinguished MacArthur Fellowship. Currently, she is Professor Emerita at the Visual and Public Art Department at California State University at Monterey Bay.

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Event is Free & Open to all Members & Friends of the CSUMB Community!