Elaborating on her self-portrait currently on exhibit, artist, photographer, curator and author, Diana Molina will share her personal and professional journey in the arts and the impact of science and international experiences on her process. Molina will discuss the inspirations behind her award-winning book and traveling exhibit, Icons and Symbols of the Borderland, Art from the US-Mexico Crossroads featuring the JUNTOS Art Association and the influence by co-presenter, artist César Martínez. The book will be available for purchase and Molina will be signing them before the talk begins.

Prominent in the field of Chicano art and included in numerous public and private collections, César Martínez is well-known for his extensive and varied visual explorations of Chicano culture. Particularly well-known for his Bato and Pachuco series which depicts recognizable barrio characters presented in a very direct format. “I want to make them unavoidable,” the artist likes to say. Martínez will discuss how these well-known characters incorporate the illustration of women.

El Paso native, Diana Molina is a photographer, artist, curator and author of Icons & Symbols of the Borderland, Art from the US-Mexico Crossroads. Living among the Tarahumara of northern Mexico and photographing their culture within the Sierra Madre resulted in Molina’s first solo exhibition at the World Museum of Art in Rotterdam. Her exhibits have been widely shown in art, science and history museums in the United States and Europe and several of her photo essays are archived at the UTEP Special Collections Library and the UT Austin Benson Latin American Collection. Molina is part of the New Mexico Humanities Council Speakers Bureau, is a board member of the New Mexico Advocates for the Arts, and she has served as creative director of the JUNTOS Art Association since 2012. As co-founder of the Crossroads Art and Ecology Lab, her process builds on the connections between art, ecology, and culture. She was awarded the 2022 New Mexico Magazine True Heroes Award for her community work in the arts.

Originally, from Laredo, Texas, César Martínez studied art at Texas A&I University in Kingsville and got his Bachelor of Science degree in All-Level Art Education in 1968. He was drafted into the US Army in 1969 and after serving in Korea, he was honorably discharged in 1971. Since then, he has lived and worked as a professional artist in San Antonio. His interest and involvement in the Chicano political movement led his work to the Mexican American and Chicano cultural explorations and themes for which he is now well known. He has exhibited widely at the national and international level. In 1999, Cesar Martinez had a retrospective at the McNay Museum in San Antonio and his work is represented in many private and public collections, including the Art Museum of South Texas, the Houston Fine Arts Museum, the Austin Museum of Art, the McNay Museum, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and others.

This event is part of the accompanying programming for the exhibition, A Dream in the Shadow of Something Real: Women in Art on view until September 3, 2023.

Support for this program is provided by the Mellon Foundation.