5.3.16-5.11.16 DecolonizeLA: Exhibition

Between May 3 and May 11th, HRLA will host an exhibition of work from artists who applied to the DecolonizeLA call for proposals. The work will be shown in the lobby, and second floor space.

Open daily 12pm - 6pm till May 11th

*There will also be a series of performances, discussions and events, please check this site and the DecolonizeLA facebook page for more info.

Artists in the exhibition:

Isabel Avila

Cyrstal Liu - The Crop Project

Avelardo Ibarra

Liberated Arts Collective

Raze the White Box: A think tank of change

About Artists:

Isabel Avila

As society increasingly moves towards the commodification of all aspects of life, I find it personally enriching to look at contrasting values such as "the sacred" through the art process. In my recent installation, Shifts in Perspective, I present images that address cultural preservation and confront the sacred through beliefs and practices of traditional Native ways of gathering medicine (sacred plants). The viewer is informed and confronted with the idea that a supernatural happening may have interrupted the photographic process and resulted in the light leaks on the film.

Crystal Liu - The Crop Project

The Crop Project's exhibition includes an installation of the cornfield’s digging process and found objects from underground. Join members of The Crop Project on May 11, 7:30-9:30 p.m for some corn snacks and drinks!
 
The Crop Project is a public art piece that invites people to grow corn in USC Roski School of Art and Design from April- July 2016. The project includes a 15-square-foot corn field, educational corn growing workshop, corn cooking lessons and a group harvest event in June when corn fully matures. Through a group effort of cultivating a staple food, corn, and sharing the unprocessed product in a city that consumes but rarely grows corn, we can be closer to nature, and closer to each other.

Liberated Arts Collective

The Liberated Arts Collective is a collaboration between recently
liberated term-to-life prisoners a teaching artist, invested in art as
a tool for personal liberation, cultural expression and social change.
Formerly incarcerated members come to the collective with a range of
art experience and interests; some of us began our art practice years
before being incarcerated, some began making art in prison, while
others haven’t made art previously.  While on the inside, we used art
as a tool to make money, remain sane in solitary or steer away from
prison politics.  Now on the outside, we use art to recognize our
power & potential, engage in leadership, build notoriety and lift each
other up.  Through art we gain a platform for our collective voices,
speak to younger generations, address the “crisis on the streets” and
educate the public about our experiences in California State Prisons
and the probation system.

Raze the White Box: A think tank of change

I wear this fools hat connected to the others.  Others following as such family can only do. Blessed are the fools that know no ill.  Bless the suffering that they don’t know the root of...
The Act of decolonization is a complex action. This is problematic since we are all now part colonized and colonizers despite our heritage.  The act of colonizing has stayed alive in the co-opted ideas of free spirit and sewing your wild oats.  This philosophy is now inherent in the culture of the west, the culture of north America and of course the culture of the golden coast.  What is this culture?  It is a culture of searching for new land to conquer and experience ignoring its consequences.  Swung at the opposite end of a club, the reaction to a colonized state is a mirrored response.  Knee jerk flawed and beautiful such is human thought.

Avelardo Ibarra