Eco-artist collaborative aims to reinterpret our perceptions of “weeds.”
DesertArtLAB, for those who missed our 2017 coverage, is the Chicanx environmental artist collaborative co-directed by April Bojorquez and Matt Garcia. Together, the pair focuses on Indigenous/Chicanx perspectives on ecological practices, food sovereignty and climate change, while helping communities cultivate knowledge on their relationships to their environments.
This week, in conjunction with their current artist-in-residence program at New Mexico Museum of Art (Vladem Contemporary), Bojorquez and Garcia host a Weed Walk event in the Railyard. Participants will not only learn how to identify native plants and the critical role they play in our ecosystem, but also actively participate in mapping out where such plants live. The group's findings will then be added to DeserArtLAB’s ECOLibrary exhibit at the Vladem Contemporary offshoot of the New Mexico Museum of Art.
“The whole idea is about creating a consciousness around place, where we are and starting a dialogue around decolonization of the term ‘weeds,’ which are actually indigenous plants from the region that serve a purpose,” Bojorquez tells SFR.
During the walk and mapmaking process, Bojorquez and Garcia will share their knowledge of the plants the group encounters while exploring combative perceptions and misunderstandings surrounding them—a mentality, Bojorquez explains, that was initially perpetuated by Spanish colonizers.
“When we lived in Kansas, there was a campaign against pigweed, which is a variety of amaranth and a sacred food prior to colonization,” she explains. “The Spanish were trying to eradicate it because it was so tied to ceremonial practices. There is an active fight to eradicate and control this plant and so many others.”
With that in mind, the mapping process becomes a means to inspire the community to come together and focus on the importance of different plants we don’t even think about most of the time. The collaboration between Desert ArtLab and NMMA initiates important conversation, but also allows community members the chance to actively engage in building a library of knowledge for future museum visitors. Meanwhile, closer to home, take a second before you cut down all the grasses and wildflowers in your yard. Ponder their origins and implications and impacts. Maybe each and every plant is here for a reason. (Adam Ferguson)
Weed Walk with DesertArtLAB: 11 am-1 pm Thursday, June 5. Free. New Mexico Museum of Art (Vladem Contemporary). 404 Montezuma Ave., (505) 476-5062
Layer After Layer
Courtesy Leysis Quesada
Anytime one pops by Midtown contemporary gallery Artes de Cuba from longtime arts pros Peggy Gaustad and Stuart Ashman, they’re bound to find beautiful treasures from the island nation. When it comes to the new show The Beauty Within: Peeling Back the Onion, however, Gaustad and Ashman might have outdone themselves. A four-artist group show from Jose Toirac, Lysis Quesada, Marcel Molina and Abel Barroso—artists who have shown at Artes de Cuba since it first opened its doors in 2022—Peeling Back the Onion runs the gamut from photography and woodcut to goldleaf and acrylics and found objects. Together, the pieces showcase Cuban life and culture alongside subtle political nods and ruminations on humor, irony, play and joy. (Alex De Vore)
The Beauty Within: Peeling Back the Onion Opening: 5-7 pm Friday, June 6. Free. Artes de Cuba, 1700 A Lena St., (505) 303-3138
Rostanding Ovation
Courtesy Gabriella Marks
Though Santa Fe experiential theater troupe Exodus Ensemble has often created work that, according to Artistic/Executive Director April Cleveland, “ends with a gun to someone’s head,” the company’s take on Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac is a decidedly light-hearted affair. In Exodus’ Cyrano, we join a class of high school seniors at a reunion some 15 years after something wild happened at their 2010 prom. Intact are Rostand’s themes of love and stuff, but by teen-ifying the story, Cleveland says, Exodus is able to craft an endearing queer take on the classic tale. “This is our first-ever rom-com, Cleveland says, “and it’s very intimate with the audience as it moves from room to room.” Shows are limited to 15 tickets which, as always, sell out fast, but are free—pleae note that you must register through the Exodus website to attend. (ADV)
Cyrano: 7 pm Friday, June 6, Saturday, June 7 and Sunday June 8. Free. Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, exodusensemble.com/tickets
B-I-N-G-O
Courtesy Mona Chromatic
Pride Month keeps on a-rolling in Santa Fe across all kinds of events, including this-here combination BINGO game and super-rad drag show. Setting aside the thrilling promise of prizes doled out through the chaotic nature of random balls, performances from the likes of Brianna Marie, Phantom Nips, ViLette Stratton and Mona Chromatic seal the deal. If you’ve not yet experienced the over-the-top joy, creativity and weirdness of drag, you’ve been missing out. And while we’re sure every performer has something special going on, we cannot stress enough how brilliantly absurd Mona Chromatic’s literal monochrome madness comes across. Throw in sips and snacks from the Tumbleroot folks and you’d be hard-fought to find a more enjoyable Wednesday night hang. (ADV)
Drag Bingo: 7 pm Wednesday, June 11. $22. Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808
