Art in Resistance – Jacobo Silva and Gloria Arenas

Curated by Leonor Aracely Arenas Agis & Aidee Velasco Arenas

November 29 to December 3 – ONE WEEK ONLY

Opening Friday, Dec. 1, 7-10pm

Live music and Curators Talk/Tour throughout evening
The exhibition features 16 acrylic and oil paintings as well as writings by Mexican political prisoners Jacobo Silva and Gloria Arenas. The work reflects the artists’ experiences as agents for social transformation in Mexico, surviving kidnappings, torture, and long-term imprisonment.

Their prison paintings have been exhibited in Mexico City at the reknown Alfaro Siqueiros Gallery, as well as the Bellas Artes, and in a temporary exhibition at the National Congress. Their writing and paintings connect with the broad peoples’ movements in Mexico. Silva’s paintings often use metaphor and symbolism to represent the state’s inhumane treatment of people, and of political prisoners specifically.

The artists began painting in prison in 1999, from their makeshift studios in 4 square metre cells’ balancing canvases on their cell room sink. Limited by few brushes and crude supplies, the two have managed to produce a large body of strong work, totalling some 360 canvases. Since January 2004, when the Mexican Army occupied the prison, they have stopped Silva from painting, and confiscated 40 works. Arenas was transferred to another prison, and is unable to paint from the 8 square metre cell she shares with 12 women prisoners.

Public Forum: International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War, Sunday, Dec. 3, 1-4pm, Free.