The university kicked off its Hispanic Heritage Month celebration with the grand opening of the John E. Conner Museum’s newest exhibit, En Mi Familia, by Kingsville artist and alumnus of Texas A&I University Carmen Lomas Garza.
En Mi Familia consists of four separate, interactive exhibits showcasing a scene based on Garza’s artworks featuring a backyard birthday, a kitchen in the midst of tamale production, a dance featuring Tejano musicians and a slice-of-life household scene.
Garza attended the opening to speak about her works, the history and significance behind her pieces and their relation to her local upbringing.
“Most of my artwork is about my recollections growing up here in Kingsville,” Garza said.
When Garza grew up in Kingsville in the 1950s it was a different era culturally than it is today.
“We were told not to speak Spanish in school. If we did, we would actually face physical punishment,” Garza said. “So, I really wanted to depict images in my artwork that were recollections of my childhood because I really wanted other Mexican-Americans to feel proud of our culture.”
Alice resident Mauricio Cuellar attested to the accuracy of the times in Garza’s artwork.
“The art in this exhibit is very representative of the times as I remember,” said Mauricio Cuellar, Alice resident and attendee of the opening of En Mi Familia. “It reminds me of my childhood in those days.”
Previously located at the Thinkery in Austin, Texas, (formerly known as the Austin Children’s Museum), the exhibit has found a new home at the John E. Conner Museum permanently.
“The opportunity came up that the Austin Children’s Museum was selling this exhibit,” Museum Director Jonathan Plant said. “Over the course of three years I was negotiating with getting this exhibit, and the circumstances worked out that we were able to do it. We got a grant from the Brookshire Foundation that enabled us to purchase it from Austin.
“We’re very excited to have this exhibit on display. It’s immersive, hands-on, bilingual, and both children and adults can interact with it. It’s a wonderful exhibit and a great way to introduce people to various aspects of Mexican-American culture here in South Texas that they may not have known about,” Plant continued.
En Mi Familia embodies the spirit of the times as Garza recalls them, but instead of submitting to censorship and institutionalized racism, Garza was inspired to create artwork that is expressive of her identity, and the identities of those who shared similar experiences throughout South Texas.
It is a celebration of Mexican-American culture.