A larger-than-life yellow Café Bustelo bag.
Flags from Spanish-speaking countries with the U.S. stars and stripes painted over them.
And produce boxes stacked ceiling-high with images of migrant workers smiling on one side and being taken away by authorities on another.
An art exhibit in Tampa centers around the term "Latinx." The pieces attempt to redefine “Latinity,” or what it means to be Latin American, through expressions of everyday life.
"The way these artists represent the potential realities, the many manifold realities of being Latino, Hispanic, Latina, Latinx, is that that experience has many, many lives, many manifestations. And that is remarkably rich and on view here," said Christian Viveros-Fauné, the curator.
Fifteen artists from across the country with various backgrounds have their work on display for X Factor: Latinx Artists and the Reconquest of the Everyday at the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum until March 8.
Evita Garcia is a USF student and board member for the Tampa Bay Latin Chamber of Commerce.
The portraits of field workers on produce boxes moved her to tears thinking about how her mother migrated from Honduras and was awarded amnesty through President Reagan's Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986.
"My mom sacrificed a lot. She literally crossed the Rio Grande, and she did that for me and my siblings. And the fact that the political landscape right now is evolving, it really resonated," she said.
Garcia is referring to the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration in the U.S.
The piece is by artist Narsiso Martinez, of California, who was forced to return to Mexico because of immigration restrictions.
Hispanic, Latino, Latina, Latinx?
The term Latinx is a gender-neutral alternative to Latino and Latina.
It became more widely used after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, in which the majority of victims were lesbian, gay, bisexual, nonbinary, and transgender people of Latin American descent.
But there have been issues with it being considered an anglicized term that is not readily used by some Spanish-speaking people.
“As a word, Latinx remains underused, even unpopular in some quarters, yet it carries expanding currency, mainly because it addresses evolving conversations about, among other things, cultural consumption, representation, empowerment, queerness, gender fluidity and cultural access,” curator Viveros-Fauné said, while moderating a panel discussion with six of the artists.
He asked each of them how they identify: Hispanic, Latino, Latina, Latinx?
“Can I say that I reject many of those, and I would love for us to just call ourselves Americans?” said Eddy Lopez.
He’s the artist behind the various Latin American flags with the U.S. flag stenciled over them. Lopez was born in Nicaragua and migrated to the U.S. with his six siblings. They were granted political asylum. But had to leave their parents behind.
“If I had to pick from those, I do like Latinx, because of the 'x.' Officially, it has a nice bump to it, but visual artists, we're all Americans. I feel like one thing that I've always wrestled with this country is that Americans are not just U.S. citizens, right? Americans are pretty much everybody that lives in this hemisphere,” Lopez said.
Puerto Rican artist Gisela Colón said she thinks any of the terms work well as they serve a uniting purpose, but is concerned about labels.
“It basically also can be a limitation, because then you're looking at the work through that lens, and you're not really looking at the work for the advancement of history. What does all this work in the exhibition contribute to the advancement of painting or of sculpture?” she said.
“I think that if we approach the use of a label with that in mind, using it as a uniting force rather than as a limiting force, then it becomes something good rather than something that detracts from the work itself.”
