{"id":10792,"date":"2010-03-01T07:00:29","date_gmt":"2010-03-01T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=10792"},"modified":"2010-03-19T10:51:45","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T14:51:45","slug":"new-mural-explores-conquest-colonization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/03\/new-mural-explores-conquest-colonization\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mural Explores Conquest, Colonization"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Marela<\/a>
Marela Zacarias is painting a mural at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Photos by Sean Flynn <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A large colorful mural is taking shape in the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.<\/p>\n

Murals with a message have a well established tradition in the political history of Latin America and the Caribbean. So when the Center decided to commission a work of art, muralist and activist Marela Zacarias was a natural choice as its first artist-in-residence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a new space we wanted to animate, not in a passive sense but with art that brings in students and faculty,\u201d says Center director Mark Overmyer-Vel\u00e1zquez. \u201cThe mural will help engage people in conversation both within the University community around issues of Latin America and with the Latin American-origin community outside UConn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zacarias, a resident of Brooklyn, New York with roots in Mexico City, is mid-way through painting a striking 18\u2019 x 10\u2019 mural with the provisional title \u201cConquest.\u201d It dominates the Center\u2019s lobby.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Marela<\/a>
Zacarias says the mural was inspired by the experience of colonization in Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zacarias says the colonization experience inspired her response to the Center\u2019s request for a mural representative of the entire region. \u201cAll of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have gone through colonization,\u201d she says. \u201cWith this mural I\u2019m raising the question of what to do to stop a colonization process that through neo-liberal policies continues to take over cultures, natural resources, and small economies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not up to me to tell people what needs to be done to fix the problems in Latin America and the Caribbean,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

The narrative of the brilliantly colored piece moves left to right, beginning with an image of an Indian mother and child living in harmony with nature, a relationship symbolically continued with Zacarias\u2019 depiction of a pyramid. Next to the pyramid is a Catholic church.<\/p>\n

Zacarias says that when Catholicism came to Latin America, \u201cthe pyramids were destroyed and churches were built on top of the ruins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>Detail<\/a>
Detail of the mural shows roots spreading like a tumor, symbolizing the economic takeover of native culture. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the mural\u2019s right edge, she plans the image of a Wal-Mart. \u201cThe building is spreading roots that look like a tumor, symbolic of the economic takeover of the native culture,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Zacarias, who has painted more than two dozen murals in the United States and Mexico, has also been artist-in-residence for the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Her sponsors have included the National Endowment for the Arts, The Charter Oak Cultural Center of Hartford, and the Mexican Electrical Workers Union.<\/p>\n

A native of Mexico City, she graduated from Kenyon College with an individualized major she developed, Social Movements in Art and Religion. She has taught mural art in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City, and cofounded Connecticut\u2019s Latinos Against the War and the Regional Coalition of Immigrant Rights. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and is pursuing an MFA in painting at Hunter College.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Marela<\/a>
Marela Zacarias, artist-in-residence at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Part of Zacarias\u2019 role as artist-in-residence for the current academic year has been to speak to UConn students in response to invitations from faculty. Classes she has addressed include art, history, political science, and Spanish, on topics ranging from immigration to her own work within the context of the mural painting tradition.<\/p>\n

Some UConn art students are also assisting Zacarias with the mural. Students are priming the wall and helping with a new technique she is exploring, making the mural three-dimensional by incorporating metal mesh in the portrait of the mother and child.<\/p>\n

Overmyer-Vel\u00e1zquez, an associate professor of history, hopes Zacarias\u2019 work will increase the Center\u2019s visibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome look at the mural,\u201d he says. \u201cIt has an aesthetic quality that\u2019s transformative, as well as a critical intellectual side, and it demonstrates how artists are very powerful interlocutors between society and academia, between social justice and classroom work. It\u2019s beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies<\/a> is located at 2006 Hillside Road, on the second floor of the Ray Ryan Building. An opening celebrating the mural is planned for March 18, combining the event with the arrival of Jorge Duany as scholar-in-residence at the Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies mural is consistent with a tradition of art as a form of political expression in Latin America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-10792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 21:49:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10792"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11462,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10792\/revisions\/11462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10792"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=10792"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=10792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}