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'Mi Tierra' Exhibit Explores Immigrant View Of American Life

By Libby Smith

"Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place" features site-specific installations by 13 Latino artists expressing experiences of life in the American West. The exhibit runs from February 19th  – October 22nd at the Denver Art Museum. For information and tickets go to the special "Mi Tierra" page at denverartmuseum.org.

DENVER (CBS4) – The Denver Art Museum's newest exhibition illustrates Mexican heritage and migration. "Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place" features 13 Latino artists, who are commenting on life in the American West today. The work ranges from video, to ceramics, textiles to a mural made out of piñata.

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"Each artist has given their take on being American, being in America today as a Latino, but also the idea of place and home," said Becky Hart, the curator of contemporary art at the Denver Art Museum. "So the word 'mi tierra' means motherland, homeland, land, country, nation, dirt, soil, so they took that word and used it in some way to inspire their work."

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The 13 artists where chosen in consultation with a group of professional Latinos who work in the arts. The goal was to make sure that the show was representative of people of Mexican heritage, which is the focus of this exhibition, but also generally representative of experiences of immigrants in America.

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"One of the things that was really interesting to me was that, as we did studio visits, every artist not only talked about their situation and their understanding of being Latino, but also talked a lot about immigration and migration," Hart told CBS4.

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One of the premises of the show is that it is site specific. Each installation was designed for the space that it was installed in, so in many cases it was built in the museum. The installation period lasted 3-months and when artists felt comfortable with it, the public was allowed to watch. Artist Justin Favela spent 3-weeks with 12 assistants doing the mural in piñata, he then came back for another 2½-weeks with 6 assistants making the objects in the exhibit.

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"The other criteria that I used when I was selecting artists was that the work had to be topical, no matter whether you had Mexican heritage, it had to be topical. It had to be cutting edge in terms of contemporary art," Hart explained.

"Mi Tierra" is Denver Art Museum's contribution to the Biennial of the Americas celebration. The Biennial of the Americas connects business, art, culture, and civic leaders throughout the Americas.

LINK: Biennial of the Americas

Libby Smith is a Special Projects Producer at CBS4. If you have a story you'd like to tell CBS4 about, call 303-863-TIPS (8477) or visit the News Tips section.

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