Sol y Sombra Exhibition Spotlights Immigrant Workers
Hispanic Heritage Month kicked off at UC San Diego Park & Market with the opening of Julia San Román’s compelling art exhibition “Sol y Sombra: Immigrant Experiences in California.” The colorful showcase, on display at Park & Market through November 30, 2023, pays homage to an often-overlooked set of heroes of our society: immigrant workers.
“Sol y Sombra” taps into the socio-economic themes San Román explored in 2020 and 2021 in her series, “The Hours,” a collection that spotlighted the dedication and resilience of immigrant workers that power the economic engine of society.
On her website, San Román says of the series: “‘The Hours’ is my homage to all our valuable foreign workers, who I believe are part of the silent foundation of the American economy. They are the seeds, the fasteners, the wheels, the gears of our society; and by taking care of the basics, they nurture it. Many of these courageous and reliable workers accumulate sick hours for a lifetime because, either they have concerns asking to take ‘sick leave,’ or they are not allowed to take it, thus they continue working even when they are ill.”
San Román hails from Madrid, Spain, but she has been a vibrant part of the San Diego community for two decades. Her work has been displayed at prestigious venues throughout San Diego County and across the country.
Hear more from San Román and UC San Diego Park & Market Director of Arts Management Andrew Waltz in the news segment that appears at the end of this post.
Festival de Octubre en Baja California
A celebration of Hispanic heritage at UC San Diego Park & Market continued with signature Intersecciones events. On October 8, Park & Market was host to the Instituto de Cultura de Baja California‘s Festival de Octubre en Baja California, which featured discussions with female, Baja California-born authors Mónica Elizabeth González Rameño and Priscila Rosas Martínez. Both authors are recipients of the Arts & Culture Award from the Secretary of Culture in Baja California for their short story “Inevitable” and the novel “Una Peluca Rubia.”
A concert by classical-trained soprano María Reyna followed the author discussions. Reyna, who hails from the Mixe region in Oaxaca, México, sings popular songs and well-known classical music translated into Mixe, an endangered indigenous language of the Mixe region.
Festival de Octubre concluded festivities with the screening of “Fandango at the Wall” (2020), a documentary that takes the audience along Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra founder and conductor Arturo O’Farrill’s journey through the remotest regions of Veracruz, México in search of musicians.
Building on UC San Diego Park & Market’s Signature Series Intersections, Intersecciones showcases diverse perspectives and forms in various disciplines, focusing on binational programming that celebrates the unique intersection of culture, art, and innovation across borders. For more information on Intersecciones, visit the series website.