MexiCali Biennial: The Horrors of (Supposed) Oral Fixation

LATINOLA | A&E
By Hyun Joo Chung

CALIFORNIA---A new exhibit premiering at East Los Angeles College's Vincent Price Museum on January 19, 2013 wants you to think about cannibalism. This year's theme of cannibalism explores the ways in which modern society and mainstream culture devours alternative ideas of identity and culture. The Mexicali Biennial exhibit held at the Vincent Price Art Museum is tantalizingly titled "Cannibalism in the New World," centering on the the consequence of labeling someone else a cannibal, as curator Amy Pederson explained, "Cannibalism in the New World was one of the central rationales for colonialism." "Tomad y Comed" by Mexicali artist Marycarmen Arroyo Macias illustrates how the Spanish colonialists practiced communion, a holy and integral part of Catholicism; bluntly, stated: 'When the powerful does it, it's Holy Communion; when the oppressed does it, it's cannibalism.

Vincent Price Art Museum - East Los Angeles College: "Third MexiCali Biennial," (Ends April 13, 2013), 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park, CA. (323) 265-8841 or vincentpriceartmuseum.org.