The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center presents Local Chicana Artists Sarah Castillo, Arlene Mejorado and Adriana Monsalve

The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center presents local Chicana artists Sarah Castillo, Arlene Mejorado and Adriana Monsalve in side by side exhibitions exploring feminine perspectives through photography and multi-media works. Entre Orillas by Arlene Mejorado & Adriana Monsalve and Chicana Feelings by Sarah Castillo open on Friday, December 8, 2017 with an Opening Reception in the Galería Guadalupe followed by an Artist Talk on Sunday, December 10.

"We are pleased to showcase the work of these women artists in the Galería Guadalupe at a time when issues of gender identity are coming to light," said Cristina Ballí, Executive Director. "Their work serves to spark important dialog outside of private conversations and out into a public setting."

Chicana Feelings works to actualize a tactile reality of Mestiza consciousness; a response to what has been rejected and embraced, the process of resolving conflict and loss in the context of mental health. This exhibition engages dialogue between anonymity and preservation through self-portraiture, paintings, video, and installation.

Sarah Castillo is a mixed media visual artist based in San Antonio, Texas, where she obtained her Master's degree in Bicultural Studies from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a thesis titled - Art as an Embodied Practice: Artistic Expression, Conocimiento, and Identity Formation. She is a Resident Artist with Clamp Light Gallery and Studios, gallerist of Lady Base Gallery, and co-founder of Mas Rudas Collective. She has shown at Artpace, Institute of Texan Cultures, Mexic-Arte Museum, UTSA, and was selected for the IV Biennial in 2015.

Entre Orillas is a photography exhibit with parallel works by Arlene Mejorado and Adriana Monsalve. Monsalve's visual stories are focused on Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas while Mejorado's stories delve into the lives in Tijuana, Baja California and Southern California. The exhibition aims to create a space for conversations around the borderlands, existing binaries, femme, queerness and women themes. The exhibition is an act of cohesive and parallel storytelling that broadens the narrative on themes too often shown in one dimension. The exhibition will be accompanied by the book Femme Frontera by Arlene Mejorado and Adriana Monsalve published by Homie House Press.

Adriana Monsalve is a storyteller and visual communicator that produces in-depth stories on topics ranging from identity to humanitarian issues and the details in between. As a daughter of immigrants from the Caribbean Republic of Colombia, she has struggled with the concept of "home." "As immigrants, we are everywhere and we have to belong somewhere so we've made habitats for ourselves in pocket towns of people like us. I'm documenting to show you something I've found and ultimately, something I am. I'm documenting so you know I was here."

Arlene Mejorado is a Xicana-nepantlera, documentary artist, and passionate observer based in Los Angeles and San Antonio. Constantly exploring themes of diaspora, cultural hybridity, gender-queerness, and racial identities, her personal experience and multi-faceted identities inform her work. Through the mediums of photography and multi-media, she experiments with traditional and nuanced methods of visual storytelling.

The Quinceañera I never had, Laredo, TX. May, 2017 by Adriana Monsalve Entre Orillas and Chicana Feelings are supported in part by the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, the City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture, and Southwest Airlines. Opening Reception

Friday, December 8, 2017 6:00pm-9:00pm
Galería Guadalupe | Free
The opening reception will debut the release of Femme Frontera, a book version of the exhibit published by Homie House Press. Music by Chulita Vinyl Club and light refreshments. Artist Talk
Sunday, December 10, 2:00-4:00pm
Galería Guadalupe | Free
Moderated by scholar and artist Dr. Josie Mendez-Negrete and photographer Kristel Orta-Puente.

Mission
The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center cultivates, promotes and preserves traditional and contemporary Chicano, Latino and Native American arts and culture through multidisciplinary programming.

Visit
Located in the heart of San Antonio's historic westside, the Guadalupe consists of six buildings: Progreso building; Cesar Chavez building; Galería Guadalupe, containing exhibition space, educational facilities, dance studios and administrative offices; and the 376-seat historic Guadalupe Theater.

Guadalupe Galeria
723 S. Brazos, San Antonio, TX 78207
Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm
Free Admission
For tours and group visits, call 210.271.3151 or email info@guadalupeculturalarts.org

Guadalupe Theater
1301 Guadalupe Street, San Antonio, TX 78207

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