In the 70s, a group of Latino and Latina students formed a collective of makers and artists at the University of Michigan. This community-minded group, La Raza, was about everything, from art to history and movement.
Dave Choberka, curator for University Learning at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and Félix Zamora Gómez, program coordinator with the university’s Arts Initiative, display these works in an exhibition titled La Raza Art and Media Collective, 1975 – Today.
The contents of the display, which runs until July 20, 2025, include poems, artwork, gallery proofs and journal editions that discuss Chicano representation in the media and contain experimental visual art. According to Choberka, these editions marked the evolution and history of the organization.
"They started out as very much a U of M a student organization," Choberka said. "But, by the time they got to the third and fourth issue, they had really developed working ties with lots of other partner organizations, and the journal became a venue for the mass position of some of their work."
One of the artists featured in the collection is George Vargas, founder of the RAM collective and a former member of La Raza. According to Zamora-Gómez, Vargas' contribution isn't just his art, but his experience as a non-traditional student who went from working in farms and factories to studying at the University of Michigan.
"Speaking, really engaging with Jorge is engaging with history: the history of this university, the history of this campus, the history of the state," Zamora-Gómez said.
As for the realizations artists were having about themselves and their world, Zamora-Gómez and Choberka said the creators reached out to the Chicano, Latin American and broader campus communities then developed their own visual vocabulary to communicate their ideas and movement.
"They don't need as many words to make the impact that they want to make," Zamora-Gómez said.
Free public tours will be available through the month of June. The first one will be on Sunday, January 12 from 2:00pm-3:00pm.
Hear Dave Choberka and Félix Zamora-Gómez's full conversations with April Baer on the Stateside podcast.
[Get Stateside on your phone: subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or YouTube Music today.]
GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Dave Choberka, Mellon Foundation curator for university learning at the University of Michigan Museum of Arts
- Félix Zamora-Gómez, program coordinator for engagement, U-M Arts Initiative
