My Brother, the Acclaimed Artist from the East L.A. Barrio

A Very Personal Chronicle of Painter Salomón Huerta’s Journey to the Whitney Biennial and Beyond

My brother, Salomón Huerta, is an internationally recognized visual artist. When I think about his rise in the art world, I can’t help but reflect on how far he came, from experiencing abject poverty and violence in a Mexican neighborhood and an American barrio to inclusion in the prestigious Whitney Biennial at age 33.

Here’s his story, as only a brother could tell it.

During the early 1960s, to escape the violence of a small Mexican rancho, Zajo Grande, in the beautiful state of Michoacán, our abuelo Martin Huerta Hernandez relocated most …

More In: Glimpses

The Photo Album That Succeeded Where Pancho Villa Failed

The Revolutionary May Have Tried to Find My Grandfather by Raiding a New Mexico Village—But a Friend’s Camera Truly Captured Our Family Patriarch

For a long time—at first sporadically but lately in hot pursuit—I’ve been looking for Sam. Sam is Sam Ravel, my paternal grandfather.  I scour the indexes of history books for …

From the Porch to the Plaza, a Diaspora Looks Forward | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

From the Porch to the Plaza, a Diaspora Looks Forward

The Art of South Central Innervisions: An AfroLatinx Futurism

Well before the pandemic began, Esperanza Community Housing was planning a public arts festival in South Central Los Angeles to challenge prevailing narratives about the community and celebrate its excellence …

Body of Color | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Body of Color

Naima Lowe’s Installation ‘Ropes, Pinks’ Uncoils Trauma in Pursuit of Black Freedom

Consisting of three lengths of cotton and hemp rope of varying thicknesses—200 feet in all—dyed in shades of pink, “Ropes, Pinks” is an installation work by artist Naima Lowe. This …

How a Charismatic Populist Destroyed Christmas | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

How a Charismatic Populist Destroyed Christmas

One Hundred Years Ago, Italian Nationalists Went to War With Their Own Country, Bringing the Border City of Fiume a ‘Christmas of Blood’

In 1920, in a small town outside Turin, Italy, 17-year-old Luigi De Michelis was everything his middle-class parents could have asked for. His teachers liked him, which was important to …