INTERSECTIONS: REFLECTIONS OF HOME AND MIGRATION
Commissioned work by Hector Dio Mendoza
November 11—December 31, 2005
MACLA commissioned Hector Dio Mendoza, a Bay Area-based installation artist who frequently uses an ethnographic approach to bridge the gap between “high art” and community work, to create an installation informed by the residents of the William/Reed Corridor, the neighborhood in which MACLA is located. After visiting residents’ homes to interview them about their lives, Mendoza asked participants to select an object to be included in the installation. These borrowed objects—symbols of culture, migration and ethnicity—were used to create a series of kaleidoscopes in the gallery and spurred discussion about the similarities, parallels and differences among residents in this immigrant neighborhood.
In the spring of 2006 MACLA presented a portion of Intersections at Project Rows Houses, a well-respected arts organization in Houston, Texas, as part of an exhibition series demonstrating innovative use of arts as a catalyst for social change.
