Posts Tagged ‘We Are Alex’
“Vos Sos Mi Canto” Concert to Benefit Child Refugees
Sunday, August 17th, 2014
Concert “VOS SOS MI CANTO” dedicated to children detained in the centers of migration. On October 4th we will start 5:30PM with a Immigration forum. We have organize two shows, 7PM and 9:30 pm, with the collaboration of distinguished Central American artists (see below), we will also collect basic necessities that children need in a detention center we are partnering with, the proceeds of the concert will be used for training and transportation . for more info
Buy your ticket on-line now
Homies Unidos and the Salvadoran Consulate invites you Saturday Sep. 28th to support Salvadoran Incarcerated People
Wednesday, September 25th, 2013
Information in English Below:
Homies Unidos y el Consulado de El Salvador les invita a una noche informativa para apoyar la Asociación Salvadoreña De Apoyo a Privados De Libertad En El Exterior (ASAPLE) es una organización en El Salvador que aboga para los derechos humanos de familiares Salvadoreños detenidos en las prisiones de California. Homies Unidos se ha unido a coordinar el trabajo de la Directora de ASAPLE, Elisa Jurado en Los Ángeles.
Hay cientos de gente en las prisiones en California y muchos de ellos ya cumplieron sus sentencias, pero no los dejan salir, Unos se encuentran con enfermedades terminales y no reciben tratamiento apropiado, otros sufren violaciones de sus derechos humanos. La Sra. Elisa Jurado por más de ocho años ha estado luchando ganar la libertad de estos ciudadanos Salvadoreños. El Apoyo que reciben al llegar a El Salvador les ayuda a poder hacer la transición apropiada para no delinquir y ser ciudadanos productibles.
En un crimen hay más de una víctima, la familia de la víctima y el la familia de el victimario sufren el dolor de perder a su ser querido. Únanse con nosotros el sábado 28 de septiembre y escuchen las historias de nuestras familias mientras recaudamos fondos apoyar este importante trabajo. Tendremos una venta de yarda de 8-3PM el mismo día en el mismo lugar.
Los Angeles Workers Center
1251 South Saint Andrews Place,
Los Angeles, CA. 90019
$5 donacion minima
Parking en la calle
Checks can be made out to Homies Unidos Inc.
Correo: 2105 Beverly Blvd Ste. 219 Los Angeles CA 90057
Comida y Bevidas
Contact: Alex Sanchez 213-793-1050
English:
Homies Unidos and the Consulate of El Salvador invites you to an informative evening to support the Salvadoran Association in Support of Freedom Deprived People in the Exterior (ASAPLE) an organization in El Salvador, which advocates for the rights of Salvadoran relatives detained in the prisons of California. Homies Unidos has joined to coordinate the work of the Director of ASAPLE, and it’s Executive Director Elizza Jurado in Los Angeles.
There are hundreds of people in prisons in California prisons who have already met their require sentences, but are not being let out, some are with terminal illnesses and do not receive appropriate treatment, others suffer violations of their human rights. Ms. Elizza Jurado for more than eight years has been fighting to win the freedom of these Salvadoran citizens. Come and learn of the work being done to help the transition of our citizens coming out of prison to become productive citizens in El Salvador.
In a crime, there is more than one victim, the victim’s family and the family of the offender is suffering the pain of losing their love ones. Join us on Saturday, September 28 and hear stories of our families while we raise funds to support this important work. We will have a yard sale from 8-3 PM at the same day in the same place.
Los Angeles Workers Center
1251 South Saint Andrews Place,
Los Angeles, CA. 90019
$5 minimum donation
street parking
Checks can be made out to Homies Unidos Inc.
Mail: 2105 Beverly Blvd Ste. 219 Los Angeles CA 90057
Food and beverages
Contact: Alex Sanchez 213-793-1050
Online Donation: I want to DONATE online
Homies Unidos Invites you to a night of music and dancing in support of our incarcerated families.
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013
English Information Below:
Homies Unidos les invita a una noche de música y diversión en apoyo a nuestra familias encarceladas.
Homies Unidos y el Consulado de El Salvador les invita a una noche de música y diversión para apoyar la Asociación Salvadoreña De Apoyo a Privados De Libertad En El Exterior (ASAPLE) es una organización en El Salvador que aboga para los derechos humanos de familiares Salvadoreños detenidos en las prisiones de California. Homies Unidos se ha unido a coordinar el trabajo de la Directora de ASAPLE, Elisa Jurado en Los Ángeles.
Hay cientos de gente en las prisiones en California y muchos de ellos ya cumplieron sus sentencias, pero no los dejan salir, Unos se encuentran con enfermedades terminales y no reciben tratamiento apropiado, otros sufren violaciones de sus derechos humanos. La Sra. Elisa Jurado por más de ocho años ha estado luchando ganar la libertad de estos ciudadanos Salvadoreños.
En un crimen hay más de una víctima, la familia de la víctima y el victimario sufren el dolor de perder a su ser querido. Únanse con nosotros el sábado 4 de mayo y escuchen a Elisa Jurado y las historias de nuestras familias mientras recaudamos fondos apoyar este importante trabajo.
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA)
2845 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, California 90005
6PM-12AM
$5 Donacion Minima
Checkes se pueden hacer a Homies Unidos Inc.
Baile, Comida y Bevidas estara diponible
English: Homies Unidos Invites you to a night of music and dancing in support of our incarcerated families.
Homies Unidos and the Consulate of El Salvador invites you to a night of music and fun to support the Salvadoran Association in support of freedom deprived in the Exterior (ASAPLE) is an organization in El Salvador, which advocates for the rights of Salvadoran relatives incarcerated in the prisons of California. Homies Unidos has joined to coordinate the work of the Director of ASAPLE, Elisa Jurado in Los Angeles.
There are hundreds of people in prisons in California who have completed their minimum require sentences, but they continue in prison year after year, some are with terminal illnesses and do not receive appropriate treatment, others suffer violations of their human rights. Ms. Elisa Jurado for more than eight years has been fighting to win the freedom of these Salvadoran citizens.
There is more than one victim in a crime; the families of the victim and the aggressor suffer the pain of losing their loved one. Join us on Saturday, May 4 and listen to the stories of our families while we raise funds to continue the very important work of Elisa Jurado.
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA)
2845 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, California 90005
6PM-12AM
$5 minimum donation
Checks can be made out to Homies Unidos Inc.
Dancing Food and beverages will also be available
El Salvador Gang Truce One-year Anniversary, TAGSPPES Statement/Declaración de TAGSPPES Sobre el Aniversario de Un Año de la Tregua en El Salvador
Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
TAGSPPES Statement on the One-year Anniversary of the Truce in El Salvador
Statement:
March 9th 2013 marks the one-year anniversary of the truce between El Salvador’s two major gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18. The peace agreement can be credited with saving thousands of lives and dropping El Salvador for the first time off the list of countries with the highest homicide rates for 2012. Despite much public skepticism about the reliability and durability of the truce, the benefits of the truce continue to grow. It is important to recognize what an enormous and historic achievement this peace represents, and to credit the small group of individuals and groups that have worked tirelessly to make this peace a reality — in particular the leadership of MS-13 and Barrio 18, the facilitators of the truce, Raul Mijango and Monsignor Fabio Collindres and their team, and those within the Salvadoran government who sup-ported this process. The Organization of American States (OAS) deserves special mention for its courageous stand as guarantor of the truce and the leadership it has taken in the international community.
It is imperative that this process, which has established greater public safety in El Salvador than years of expensive and harsh law enforcement, be supported by all stakeholders. The benefits of a safer and more peaceful society accrue and belong to all of Salvadorans , not only the participants of the truce. The introduction of the second phase, the violence free municipalities, is a welcome opportunity to share the peace dividend from the truce to some of the communities most affected by violence in El Salvador. The formation of the Fundacion Humanitario and the addition of three other gangs (Mao Mao, La Máquina y la Mirada Locos), Father Antonio Rodriguez and mayors from both major political parties to the ranks of those supporting the truce and actively working for peace gives strength and additional legitimacy to the process.
However despite the success of the peace process and additional supporters, there is much more sup-port required to ensure the peace lasts and cycle of violence that has afflicted El Salvador for over thirty years ends. For this reason it is imperative that all of Salvador-an society be part of this process in order for it to succeed.
Los Angeles, Alex Sanchez: asanchez@homiesunidos.org
New York, steve.vigil@gmail.com
Washington D.C., Luis Cardona: luiscardo@hotmail.com and Juan Pacheco: peacewarrior703@gmail.com
YouTube: tagsppes
Declaración de TAGSPPES Sobre el Aniversario de Un Año de la Tregua en
El Salvador
Declaración:
El 9 de marzo 2013, se cumplió el primer aniversario de la tregua entre las dos pandillas más grandes de El Salvador, MS-13 y Barrio 18. Se puede dar crédito al acuerdo de paz por salvar miles de vidas y por sacar a El Salvador por primera vez fuera de la lista de países con las tasas más altas de homicidios en el 2012. A pesar de un gran escepticismo público acerca de la durabilidad de la tregua, los beneficios de la tregua continúan creciendo. Es importante reconocer que esta paz representa un gran logro histórico, y se puede dar crédito a los individuos y grupos que han trabajado incansablemente para hacer que esta paz sea una realidad – en particular el liderazgo de la MS-13 y Barrio 18, los facilitadores de la tregua, Raul Mijango y Monseñor Fabio Colindres y sus equipo, y a los que estan dentro del gobierno salvadoreno que apoyaron a este proceso. La Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA), merece una mención especial por su valiente posición de garante de la tregua y el liderazgo que ha tenido en la comunidad internacional.
Es importante que este proceso, que ha establecido una mayor seguridad pública en El Salvador que en los años de aplicación de la ley costosa y extrema (Mano Dura), siga adelante con el apoyo de todos los grupos de interes. Los beneficios de una sociedad más segura y más pacífica pertenecen a toda la sociedad salvadoreña, no sólo a los participantes de la tregua. La introducción de la segunda fase, los municipios libres de violencia, es una buena oportunidad para compartir el dividendo de la paz de la tregua a algunas de las comunidades más afectadas por la violencia en El Salvador. También es importante la formación de la Fundación Humanitario y la adición de tres otras pandillas (Mao Mao, La Máquina y la Mirada Locos), Padre Toño y los alcaldes de los dos partidos políticos principales en las filas para que apoyen a la tregua y trabajen activamente por la paz, dar fuerza, y den legitimidad adicional al proceso.
Sin embargo, a pesar del éxito del proceso de paz y los partidarios adicionales, se necesita más apoyo para asegurar que la paz siga y el ciclo de la violencia que ha afectado a El Salvador desde hace más de treinta años finalise. Por esta razón, es importante que todos los de la sociedad salvadoreña sean parte de este proceso, para que tenga éxito.
Los Angeles, Alex Sanchez: asanchez@homiesunidos.org
New York, steve.vigil@gmail.com
Washington D.C., Luis Cardona: luiscardo@hotmail.com and Juan Pacheco: peacewarrior703@gmail.com
YouTube: tagsppes
Hearing To Dismiss all Charges Against Alex Sanchez of Homies Unidos
Tuesday, January 15th, 2013
Todos Somos Alex
Friday, January 4th, 2013
‘Love in a Cemetery’ at the 18th St. Art Center
Friday, February 26th, 2010
The title of 18th Street Art Center’s ambitious group exhibition, “Love in a Cemetery,” comes from artist Allan Kaprow, who said, “Life in the museum is like making love in a cemetery.” Kaprow attempted to escape the museum’s sepulchral air with “happenings,” open-ended, participatory events that blurred the line between art and everyday life.
In this spirit, the exhibition presents works that take place within and outside the gallery, seeking to reevaluate the relationship between cultural institutions and the communities they serve. It succeeds, not so much in reinvigorating the gallery space, but in raising questions about how such works might best be presented within its walls.
Organized by curator Robert Sain and artist Andrea Bowers, the show is supposedly structured around a series of questions on the relationship between “cultural institutions” and “community,” both of which are ill-defined. People have scrawled various answers, ranging from glib to smart-alecky, in chalk on the walls of the gallery. Although broadly participatory, it’s the least compelling part of the show.
The rest of the pieces were created by Bowers and eight graduate students from the Public Practice Program at the Otis College of Art & Design. The students, in pairs or individually, teamed with five community organizations to create projects that would both have a positive impact on their respective communities and produce a work to be shown in the gallery.
Rodrigo Marti and Felicia Montes worked with gang intervention program Homies Unidos to develop art workshops, a panel discussion, and a poster and sticker campaign supporting the legal case of the program’s director, Alex Sanchez, who was indicted in a gang-related case in 2009. In the gallery, posters, fliers and protest signs line one of the walls and visitors can contribute to the cause by purchasing T-shirts, stickers and jewelry at a makeshift self-serve kiosk. The work successfully turns the gallery into an information and fundraising center, even if its traditional activist aesthetic — high contrast graphics, long columns of text and slapdash construction — loses some of its urgency on the gallery walls.
Less effective are the results of Rachael Filsinger and Ella Tetrault’s project with My Friend’s Place, a drop-in center for homeless youth in Hollywood. Filsinger and Tetrault ran workshops with the center’s young clients, encouraging them to record all the places they had lived or visited on conventional printed maps. Mounted on sheets of plywood, some of the maps are annotated with expressions of frustration or political conviction, but the scrawled lines and dots are often so cryptic that one can’t help feeling that the real work lies elsewhere. The maps are the byproduct of a process that hopefully has had some positive influence on its participants; it’s too bad we don’t know more about it.
Projects like these point to some of the difficulties of representing community-based work within the walls of the gallery. Should artists behave more like documentarians? Or should activism and art remain separate? On the other hand, is it enough to simply move the signs, T-shirts and stickers indoors?
Jamie Crooke’s partnership with the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic provides one possible answer. Crooke walked the streets around the clinic pushing a cart selling health-related items–bandages, apples, wheat grass seed, Emergen-C packets — in exchange for a dollar or a bit of conversation. In addition to examining the cart itself, gallery visitors can watch a video and flip through a photo book documenting the project. The cart also features a price list including the above mentioned items as well as the cost of one year of employer-provided health insurance (about $13,000) and the annual compensation of United Health Group’s CEO (more than $9 million). With this sly, humorous gesture, the piece makes its critical point about inequities in healthcare spending, whether one sees it on the street or in the gallery.
It’s impossible to ascertain whether Crooke’s project had a greater impact than the rest; she simply presented it more thoughtfully. It is more than enough to go out and help others or fight injustice, but communicating that accomplishment — giving one’s vision a life beyond the immediate moment — is where the institution, whether a museum, an archive or, ahem, a newspaper, plays a role. Yes, the museum is often a mausoleum, housing the remnants of more vital activity, but how else will the rest of us know what happened?
18th Street Arts Center, 1639 18th St., Santa Monica, (310) 453-3711, through March 26. Closed Saturday and Sunday. www.18thstreet .org
“Vos Sos Mi Canto” Concert to Benefit Child Refugees
Sunday, August 17th, 2014Concert “VOS SOS MI CANTO” dedicated to children detained in the centers of migration. On October 4th we will start 5:30PM with a Immigration forum. We have organize two shows, 7PM and 9:30 pm, with the collaboration of distinguished Central American artists (see below), we will also collect basic necessities that children need in a detention center we are partnering with, the proceeds of the concert will be used for training and transportation . for more info
Buy your ticket on-line now
Homies Unidos and the Salvadoran Consulate invites you Saturday Sep. 28th to support Salvadoran Incarcerated People
Wednesday, September 25th, 2013Information in English Below:
Homies Unidos y el Consulado de El Salvador les invita a una noche informativa para apoyar la Asociación Salvadoreña De Apoyo a Privados De Libertad En El Exterior (ASAPLE) es una organización en El Salvador que aboga para los derechos humanos de familiares Salvadoreños detenidos en las prisiones de California. Homies Unidos se ha unido a coordinar el trabajo de la Directora de ASAPLE, Elisa Jurado en Los Ángeles.
Hay cientos de gente en las prisiones en California y muchos de ellos ya cumplieron sus sentencias, pero no los dejan salir, Unos se encuentran con enfermedades terminales y no reciben tratamiento apropiado, otros sufren violaciones de sus derechos humanos. La Sra. Elisa Jurado por más de ocho años ha estado luchando ganar la libertad de estos ciudadanos Salvadoreños. El Apoyo que reciben al llegar a El Salvador les ayuda a poder hacer la transición apropiada para no delinquir y ser ciudadanos productibles.
En un crimen hay más de una víctima, la familia de la víctima y el la familia de el victimario sufren el dolor de perder a su ser querido. Únanse con nosotros el sábado 28 de septiembre y escuchen las historias de nuestras familias mientras recaudamos fondos apoyar este importante trabajo. Tendremos una venta de yarda de 8-3PM el mismo día en el mismo lugar.
Los Angeles Workers Center
1251 South Saint Andrews Place,
Los Angeles, CA. 90019
$5 donacion minima
Parking en la calle
Checks can be made out to Homies Unidos Inc.
Correo: 2105 Beverly Blvd Ste. 219 Los Angeles CA 90057
Comida y Bevidas
Contact: Alex Sanchez 213-793-1050
|
English: Homies Unidos and the Consulate of El Salvador invites you to an informative evening to support the Salvadoran Association in Support of Freedom Deprived People in the Exterior (ASAPLE) an organization in El Salvador, which advocates for the rights of Salvadoran relatives detained in the prisons of California. Homies Unidos has joined to coordinate the work of the Director of ASAPLE, and it’s Executive Director Elizza Jurado in Los Angeles. There are hundreds of people in prisons in California prisons who have already met their require sentences, but are not being let out, some are with terminal illnesses and do not receive appropriate treatment, others suffer violations of their human rights. Ms. Elizza Jurado for more than eight years has been fighting to win the freedom of these Salvadoran citizens. Come and learn of the work being done to help the transition of our citizens coming out of prison to become productive citizens in El Salvador. In a crime, there is more than one victim, the victim’s family and the family of the offender is suffering the pain of losing their love ones. Join us on Saturday, September 28 and hear stories of our families while we raise funds to support this important work. We will have a yard sale from 8-3 PM at the same day in the same place. Los Angeles Workers Center 1251 South Saint Andrews Place, street parking Checks can be made out to Homies Unidos Inc. Mail: 2105 Beverly Blvd Ste. 219 Los Angeles CA 90057 Food and beverages Contact: Alex Sanchez 213-793-1050 Online Donation: I want to DONATE online
|
Homies Unidos Invites you to a night of music and dancing in support of our incarcerated families.
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013English Information Below:
Homies Unidos les invita a una noche de música y diversión en apoyo a nuestra familias encarceladas.
Homies Unidos y el Consulado de El Salvador les invita a una noche de música y diversión para apoyar la Asociación Salvadoreña De Apoyo a Privados De Libertad En El Exterior (ASAPLE) es una organización en El Salvador que aboga para los derechos humanos de familiares Salvadoreños detenidos en las prisiones de California. Homies Unidos se ha unido a coordinar el trabajo de la Directora de ASAPLE, Elisa Jurado en Los Ángeles.
Hay cientos de gente en las prisiones en California y muchos de ellos ya cumplieron sus sentencias, pero no los dejan salir, Unos se encuentran con enfermedades terminales y no reciben tratamiento apropiado, otros sufren violaciones de sus derechos humanos. La Sra. Elisa Jurado por más de ocho años ha estado luchando ganar la libertad de estos ciudadanos Salvadoreños.
En un crimen hay más de una víctima, la familia de la víctima y el victimario sufren el dolor de perder a su ser querido. Únanse con nosotros el sábado 4 de mayo y escuchen a Elisa Jurado y las historias de nuestras familias mientras recaudamos fondos apoyar este importante trabajo.
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA)
2845 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, California 90005
6PM-12AM
$5 Donacion Minima
Checkes se pueden hacer a Homies Unidos Inc.
Baile, Comida y Bevidas estara diponible
English: Homies Unidos Invites you to a night of music and dancing in support of our incarcerated families.
Homies Unidos and the Consulate of El Salvador invites you to a night of music and fun to support the Salvadoran Association in support of freedom deprived in the Exterior (ASAPLE) is an organization in El Salvador, which advocates for the rights of Salvadoran relatives incarcerated in the prisons of California. Homies Unidos has joined to coordinate the work of the Director of ASAPLE, Elisa Jurado in Los Angeles.
There are hundreds of people in prisons in California who have completed their minimum require sentences, but they continue in prison year after year, some are with terminal illnesses and do not receive appropriate treatment, others suffer violations of their human rights. Ms. Elisa Jurado for more than eight years has been fighting to win the freedom of these Salvadoran citizens.
There is more than one victim in a crime; the families of the victim and the aggressor suffer the pain of losing their loved one. Join us on Saturday, May 4 and listen to the stories of our families while we raise funds to continue the very important work of Elisa Jurado.
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA)
2845 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, California 90005
6PM-12AM
$5 minimum donation
Checks can be made out to Homies Unidos Inc.
Dancing Food and beverages will also be available
El Salvador Gang Truce One-year Anniversary, TAGSPPES Statement/Declaración de TAGSPPES Sobre el Aniversario de Un Año de la Tregua en El Salvador
Wednesday, March 20th, 2013|
TAGSPPES Statement on the One-year Anniversary of the Truce in El Salvador
Statement:
March 9th 2013 marks the one-year anniversary of the truce between El Salvador’s two major gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18. The peace agreement can be credited with saving thousands of lives and dropping El Salvador for the first time off the list of countries with the highest homicide rates for 2012. Despite much public skepticism about the reliability and durability of the truce, the benefits of the truce continue to grow. It is important to recognize what an enormous and historic achievement this peace represents, and to credit the small group of individuals and groups that have worked tirelessly to make this peace a reality — in particular the leadership of MS-13 and Barrio 18, the facilitators of the truce, Raul Mijango and Monsignor Fabio Collindres and their team, and those within the Salvadoran government who sup-ported this process. The Organization of American States (OAS) deserves special mention for its courageous stand as guarantor of the truce and the leadership it has taken in the international community.
It is imperative that this process, which has established greater public safety in El Salvador than years of expensive and harsh law enforcement, be supported by all stakeholders. The benefits of a safer and more peaceful society accrue and belong to all of Salvadorans , not only the participants of the truce. The introduction of the second phase, the violence free municipalities, is a welcome opportunity to share the peace dividend from the truce to some of the communities most affected by violence in El Salvador. The formation of the Fundacion Humanitario and the addition of three other gangs (Mao Mao, La Máquina y la Mirada Locos), Father Antonio Rodriguez and mayors from both major political parties to the ranks of those supporting the truce and actively working for peace gives strength and additional legitimacy to the process. However despite the success of the peace process and additional supporters, there is much more sup-port required to ensure the peace lasts and cycle of violence that has afflicted El Salvador for over thirty years ends. For this reason it is imperative that all of Salvador-an society be part of this process in order for it to succeed. Los Angeles, Alex Sanchez: asanchez@homiesunidos.org
New York, steve.vigil@gmail.com
Declaración de TAGSPPES Sobre el Aniversario de Un Año de la Tregua en
El Salvador
Declaración: El 9 de marzo 2013, se cumplió el primer aniversario de la tregua entre las dos pandillas más grandes de El Salvador, MS-13 y Barrio 18. Se puede dar crédito al acuerdo de paz por salvar miles de vidas y por sacar a El Salvador por primera vez fuera de la lista de países con las tasas más altas de homicidios en el 2012. A pesar de un gran escepticismo público acerca de la durabilidad de la tregua, los beneficios de la tregua continúan creciendo. Es importante reconocer que esta paz representa un gran logro histórico, y se puede dar crédito a los individuos y grupos que han trabajado incansablemente para hacer que esta paz sea una realidad – en particular el liderazgo de la MS-13 y Barrio 18, los facilitadores de la tregua, Raul Mijango y Monseñor Fabio Colindres y sus equipo, y a los que estan dentro del gobierno salvadoreno que apoyaron a este proceso. La Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA), merece una mención especial por su valiente posición de garante de la tregua y el liderazgo que ha tenido en la comunidad internacional. Es importante que este proceso, que ha establecido una mayor seguridad pública en El Salvador que en los años de aplicación de la ley costosa y extrema (Mano Dura), siga adelante con el apoyo de todos los grupos de interes. Los beneficios de una sociedad más segura y más pacífica pertenecen a toda la sociedad salvadoreña, no sólo a los participantes de la tregua. La introducción de la segunda fase, los municipios libres de violencia, es una buena oportunidad para compartir el dividendo de la paz de la tregua a algunas de las comunidades más afectadas por la violencia en El Salvador. También es importante la formación de la Fundación Humanitario y la adición de tres otras pandillas (Mao Mao, La Máquina y la Mirada Locos), Padre Toño y los alcaldes de los dos partidos políticos principales en las filas para que apoyen a la tregua y trabajen activamente por la paz, dar fuerza, y den legitimidad adicional al proceso. Los Angeles, Alex Sanchez: asanchez@homiesunidos.org
New York, steve.vigil@gmail.com |
Hearing To Dismiss all Charges Against Alex Sanchez of Homies Unidos
Tuesday, January 15th, 2013
Todos Somos Alex
Friday, January 4th, 2013‘Love in a Cemetery’ at the 18th St. Art Center
Friday, February 26th, 2010The title of 18th Street Art Center’s ambitious group exhibition, “Love in a Cemetery,” comes from artist Allan Kaprow, who said, “Life in the museum is like making love in a cemetery.” Kaprow attempted to escape the museum’s sepulchral air with “happenings,” open-ended, participatory events that blurred the line between art and everyday life.
In this spirit, the exhibition presents works that take place within and outside the gallery, seeking to reevaluate the relationship between cultural institutions and the communities they serve. It succeeds, not so much in reinvigorating the gallery space, but in raising questions about how such works might best be presented within its walls.
Organized by curator Robert Sain and artist Andrea Bowers, the show is supposedly structured around a series of questions on the relationship between “cultural institutions” and “community,” both of which are ill-defined. People have scrawled various answers, ranging from glib to smart-alecky, in chalk on the walls of the gallery. Although broadly participatory, it’s the least compelling part of the show.
The rest of the pieces were created by Bowers and eight graduate students from the Public Practice Program at the Otis College of Art & Design. The students, in pairs or individually, teamed with five community organizations to create projects that would both have a positive impact on their respective communities and produce a work to be shown in the gallery.
Rodrigo Marti and Felicia Montes worked with gang intervention program Homies Unidos to develop art workshops, a panel discussion, and a poster and sticker campaign supporting the legal case of the program’s director, Alex Sanchez, who was indicted in a gang-related case in 2009. In the gallery, posters, fliers and protest signs line one of the walls and visitors can contribute to the cause by purchasing T-shirts, stickers and jewelry at a makeshift self-serve kiosk. The work successfully turns the gallery into an information and fundraising center, even if its traditional activist aesthetic — high contrast graphics, long columns of text and slapdash construction — loses some of its urgency on the gallery walls.
Less effective are the results of Rachael Filsinger and Ella Tetrault’s project with My Friend’s Place, a drop-in center for homeless youth in Hollywood. Filsinger and Tetrault ran workshops with the center’s young clients, encouraging them to record all the places they had lived or visited on conventional printed maps. Mounted on sheets of plywood, some of the maps are annotated with expressions of frustration or political conviction, but the scrawled lines and dots are often so cryptic that one can’t help feeling that the real work lies elsewhere. The maps are the byproduct of a process that hopefully has had some positive influence on its participants; it’s too bad we don’t know more about it.
Projects like these point to some of the difficulties of representing community-based work within the walls of the gallery. Should artists behave more like documentarians? Or should activism and art remain separate? On the other hand, is it enough to simply move the signs, T-shirts and stickers indoors?
Jamie Crooke’s partnership with the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic provides one possible answer. Crooke walked the streets around the clinic pushing a cart selling health-related items–bandages, apples, wheat grass seed, Emergen-C packets — in exchange for a dollar or a bit of conversation. In addition to examining the cart itself, gallery visitors can watch a video and flip through a photo book documenting the project. The cart also features a price list including the above mentioned items as well as the cost of one year of employer-provided health insurance (about $13,000) and the annual compensation of United Health Group’s CEO (more than $9 million). With this sly, humorous gesture, the piece makes its critical point about inequities in healthcare spending, whether one sees it on the street or in the gallery.
It’s impossible to ascertain whether Crooke’s project had a greater impact than the rest; she simply presented it more thoughtfully. It is more than enough to go out and help others or fight injustice, but communicating that accomplishment — giving one’s vision a life beyond the immediate moment — is where the institution, whether a museum, an archive or, ahem, a newspaper, plays a role. Yes, the museum is often a mausoleum, housing the remnants of more vital activity, but how else will the rest of us know what happened?
18th Street Arts Center, 1639 18th St., Santa Monica, (310) 453-3711, through March 26. Closed Saturday and Sunday. www.18thstreet .org
