Afróntalo
As an exhibit at the CSUSB Anthropology museum, "Afróntalo introduces you to four communities in Mexico and twenty-one Californians, all in their own words, to explore the depth and breadth of Afrolatine histories, cultures and identities.”
The Exhibit
Visitors to the exhibition are greeted with art descriptive displays divided into two sections: one curated by representatives of four
Afro-descendant communities in Mexico, and another presenting biographies and original portraits of 21 Afrolatine Californians.
The Portrait
I Do Have the Power
Elia Salias
oil paint on canvas
"I painted Eva as a woman emerging from a black cocoon as a fire woman of life. She is a woman of spirituality and strength, thus the fire and gold coloring."
"Afro-Latinx folks build and maintain community not only through struggle. We relish the really subtle ways that we find each other, see ourselves in one another, and don't have to explain or justify our existence when we are together. We celebrate Celia Cruz not only because her music is amazing, but because we see our aunt, our grandmother, our cousin in her. When we are navigating the cracks of our own lived experience and feel like we are the only one, we see someone like Amara la Negra, who has fought so hard to maintain any bit of her identity, and we can say to ourselves, they will not silence and they will not erase me, either. This collective affirmation is where we find joy,
and how we strengthen our crowns."
Read the full biography by visiting the Afrontalo exhibit at the CSUSB Anthropology museum
The exhibition has been made possible in part with grants from California Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico’s Understanding African Heritage in Mexico through Exchanges Fund, which funded the participation of the exhibition’s curatorial team from Mexico in the opening programs of Afróntalo.