What is art, and who gets to define it? The Convergence x Crossroads: Street Art from the Southwest exhibition at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque provides an entry point to this conversation—even if it doesn’t provide all the answers.
Former National Hispanic Cultural Center curator Rebecca Gomez and street artist Strike have a lot to say about the challenges and contradictions inherent to creating a street art exhibition. By bringing street art into a museum setting, the exhibition challenges stereotypes, blurs the boundaries between gallery art and street art, and invites viewers to reflect on what it means to create art in the face of some of life’s biggest challenges.
“I have friends that are living out in the streets, you know, literally, and they scrape together whatever they can, and they make stuff happen, and they paint stuff, and I think that’s beautiful,” Strike says. “Regardless of where they’re at or what they’re doing, you know, they’re still trying to create. I think that’s a beautiful thing, and I’m blessed to be a part of that.”
Mentioned in this Episode:
Convergence X Crossroads: Street Art from the Southwest
Gil Rocha
Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas
South Broadway Cultural Center in Albuquerque
Murals in Barelas Neighborhood in Albuquerque
Illegal? Art Show in Las Cruces
Borderland Jam in El Paso, Texas
Paint Louis graffiti art festival in St. Louis, Missouri
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Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.
Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine
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