Mexican artist Libertad Alcántara believes that simply existing is a political act.
“We are all a result of our material conditions, including the place you were born,” Alcántara said during a recent phone interview. “For me, any expression of ourselves is an extension of those things, and at this point, not believing that politics affects your life is just being in denial.”
Alcántara said her approach to art is inspired by “life itself,” often juxtaposing the observations of our everyday realities with politics. An example is her painting “Offsides/Fuera de Cancha,” displayed in her recent exhibit, “Ahí viene el Coco” (“Here Comes the Boogeyman”), at the Don’t Look Projects Gallery in Los Angeles, running through Dec. 27.
The painting depicts United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on a massive screen at the center of a soccer stadium, with the caption, “If you come into our country and break our laws, we will hunt you down.”
The inspiration for the concept came after watching a soccer match on TV with her family in Mexico, where an advertisement by Homeland Security came on during halftime. It was an ad very similar to those running on Spanish-language networks such as Univision and Telemundo. This ad, in her home country, discouraged Mexican residents from migrating and prompted Mexico to propose a law prohibiting “foreign propaganda in local media.”
“It just aired on TV, and I was shocked,” she said. “We are watching public television, and this woman is literally saying we will hunt you down. What is this reality? It was unreal.”
Other paintings in the exhibit feature ICE agents roaming the streets, anti-ICE demonstrations and barbed wire over messages of hope. Alcántara said that she was invited by the Don’t Look Projects Gallery because it wanted to host artists whose communities were most affected by the policies. She currently resides in Mexico’s Xalapa, Veracruz, and said she felt the invitation to host an exhibit at the gallery was a political act that resonated with the kind of work she does.
“We’re living in a time that is definitely one of those that you will see in a history book in a few years,” Alcántara said. “As an artist, it’s important to have some testimony of that, and it also provides another medium to process it all. Every piece is a particular moment that I needed to process because so many things are happening at the same time.”
While the artwork in the current exhibit focuses on U.S. immigration policy, Alcántara said that similar immigration enforcement policies are also happening around the world. She cited Veracruz as an example where, according to Amnesty International, migrants and people who do not appear to be Mexican residents can be racially profiled by authorities and detained or handed over for deportation.
The racial-profiling aspect is similar to the U.S. Supreme Court’s September order in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo, which temporarily lifted a lower court’s injunction that had barred immigration officers in the Los Angeles area from making investigative stops based on factors such as where someone was standing or working, whether they spoke Spanish or accented English, or their apparent race or ethnicity.
Alcántara hopes that people who see her art will stop to recognize how it affects them personally. The role immigration plays in their communities and country on a more systemic level. She said that in Mexico, being an immigrant is dangerous because there is a whole business dedicated to smuggling people across the border, which can put desperate people in violent or deadly situations.
“It is very terrifying and something we cannot see as easily as organized crime or just dangerous,” she said. “It’s one of those things that are quietly happening and almost like the boogeyman.”
The title of the exhibit, “Ahí viene el Coco” (“Here Comes the Boogeyman”), was recommended by a co-founder of the Don’t Look Projects Gallery to Alcántara, who said she usually has difficulty naming her bodies of work. She thought it was a perfect fit because it prompts spectators to wonder about the boogeyman’s identity: Is it the ICE agents inducing fear in community members and their families? Is it the “coyotes,” also known as human smugglers, who sometimes exploit migrants and use dangerous methods to get people across the border? Or is there an underlying force underneath it all?
“For me, the answer is the legacy of capitalism,” Alcántara said. “That is the driving factor in all of this, where people are searching for better lives in the U.S.”
On Nov. 20, the gallery hosted an artist talk with Alcántara, inviting community members and the public to get a first look at the exhibit and hear her speak about the work. She said that she was surprised by some of the feedback people gave her and appreciated the subtleties they picked up in the paintings, which she said was the whole point.
“In general, I feel like we should go out and see art with an open sensibility and let our brain just flow,” she said. “At the end of the day, artwork is just like a conversation, and so far I am happy with its reception.”
Ahí viene el Coco (Here Comes the Boogeyman)
When: Noon to 6 p.m. on Thursdays-Saturdays through Dec. 27.
Where: Don’t Look Projects 680 S La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles.
Information: dontlookprojects.com.