Last modified: Tuesday, September 3, 2002
IU exhibit to highlight Latino experience in Bloomington
The Latino experience and identity in Bloomington through pictures and stories will comprise an upcoming exhibition at the Indiana University Mathers Museum of World Cultures.
"La Cara Latina de Bloomington" will open with a reception on Sept. 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. and be on view through Dec. 22 at the Mathers Museum, 416 N. Indiana Ave. The reception and exhibit will be free to the public. The reception will include music by Sancocho, a song and percussion group, and Grupo Acupe, a dance/martial arts group.
The museum's hours are Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Parking is available nearby in the McCalla School lot at Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue.
The opening reception will mark the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month and include a presentation by community representatives, exhibition photographer Tyagan Miller, and a musical performance.
Lillian Casillas, director of La Casa, the Latino Cultural Center at IU, said the show will feature pictures and personal glimpses of approximately 20 Bloomington Latino residents. "Our purpose is to educate the non-Latino community about the integral and equal role Latinos play within our community and to affirm the presence and experience of those within the Latino community. This exhibit will give people the opportunity to celebrate the depth and variety of the Latino experience within Bloomington," Casillas said.
She said the exhibit will reflect the various nationalities that comprise the Latino community, including Cubans, Costa Ricans, Puerto Ricans, Peruvians, Mexicans, Brazilians and others. The 20 Latinos featured will include both long-term residents and recent arrivals in Bloomington.
Miller's photographs are in the tradition of social documentary photojournalism. IU Press published a book of his photographs in 2000 titled Twilight in Arcadia that concerns migrant farm workers in southern Indiana tobacco fields. Miller has served as a Riley Lecturer at the IU School of Journalism and received grants for his work from the Lilly Endowment, Indiana Arts Commission, Indiana Historical Society, IU Center on Aging and Aged, and Polis Center at IUPUI. The Indianapolis Museum of Art is currently exhibiting his work in a show on an inner-city African American church community.
In conjunction with the exhibit, a lesson plan for school children will be developed by the Monroe County Community School Corporation's Multicultural Education and Services. Sponsors of the event are La Casa/Latino Cultural Center, IU Office of International Programs, Indiana Arts Commission and Bloomington Area Arts Council.
For more details, contact the Mathers Museum at 812-855-6873. The museum's Web site is at https://www.indiana.edu/~mathers/. The Web site for the exhibit is https://www.lacaralatina.org/.
