Maria Varela and Maria Gaspar Featured Presentation

Maria Varela and Maria Gaspar will engage in an intergenerational conversation about the role of cultural engagement in their respective roles as artists, organizers, and activists. Varela’s work in the southern civil rights movement included supporting rural indigenous artisans and poets. Her work in the rural areas of northern New Mexico included reviving cultural practices in support of indigenous weaving and other arts. Gaspar’s art practice includes issues of visibility, spatial justice, and geography. Working in her childhood neighborhood of Chicago’s West Side, she has developed many projects including, 96 ACRES, a series of public art interventions that examine the impact of mass incarceration at the Cook County Jail.

National Museum of Mexican Art
1852 W 19th St.
Chicago, IL 60608
Phone: (312) 738-1503