Nico Avina usually celebrates his birthday with a solo show at Espacio 1839, the Boyle Heights art gallery, gift shop and public recording studio he cofounded in 2012 with his wife Myra Teocintli and other collective members.
But this year is different.
First Street is quieter with the fear of ICE forcing street vendors and musicians into hiding. Gone are the mariachis waiting to be hired in the nearby plaza named after them, where just last week hundreds gathered in solidarity with the detained for “Reclaim Our Streets.”
For over a month, hard-working locals selling tamales, fruta and tacos have abandoned their posts or been detained by ICE, inspiring art pieces and altars in their honor.
“Art has always been at the forefront of every struggle and every movement,” said Avina, who turned 51 this week.
The longtime social justice artist and poet, whose 2018 7-1/2-foot-tall Virgin de Guadalupe holding an eviction notice plywood piece decried the gentrification displacing long-term residents from his native Boyle Heights, decided to do a group show instead.
Spotlighting 15 artists whose pieces reflect the community’s outrage, “Chinga la Migra” opens today during Espacio’s monthly Caminarte art walk and benefits local rapid response organizations protecting people from ICE.
“Being first generation, I understand that fear of being worried about la migra,” said Avina, whose parents immigrated to Los Angeles from Jalisco.
“My parents spoke about how in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, immigration would pick people off the bus stop, leaving their lunches behind. One of my brothers crossed the border at 9 and, as kids, we would play games about la migra chasing us. I remember my parents being afraid of certain areas and certain cars. Those things are happening all over again. It’s triggering.”
At Espacio, Avina and Teocintli provide a safe space for the community to access Know Your Rights resources, and the building is a community hub for helping Boyle Heights respond to ICE raids. Flyers proclaiming “ICE is not welcome here” and “Private Property” frame front window panes that for years have served as a community bulletin board.
Friday’s opening includes art activations like screenprinting, zine making and handcrafted lino cut stamps by artist Tarjetitas con Amor with BIPOC small business accelerator and fellowship program LEEAF providing entrepreneurial guidance.
Exhibiting artists include photographer and filmmaker Textli Gallegos, whose “Kalli Nepantla (The House of In-Between)” short film she co-wrote and co-directed with Boyle Heights actor Angel Gabriel Lizarraga about an Indigenous family’s mental health struggle is being featured at next week’s Chicano Hollywood Film Festival.
Born into a family of activists and raised throughout the Eastside, Gallegos grew up going to protests and started documenting them as a teenager and participant of Las Fotos Project, where she honed her photography skills. The former Las Fotos staff member now freelances for the Boyle Heights photography mentorship program.
A few years ago, Gallegos, 26, stopped documenting protests after becoming disillusioned by influencers who she felt were being overly performative to gain followers. But as demonstrations began nearby her Chinatown home, she was inspired to get back on the frontline.
“It’s literally at my doorstep,” said Gallegos. “For three weeks, there wasn’t a moment of silence. I couldn’t just stay in my house. It’s my roots. I had to go back.”
Gallegos’ photographs depicting the early actions against ICE in downtown L.A., where, she said, she was tear gassed and punched in the stomach with a baton by agents, are featured in the exhibit. So is laser cutting artist Manny Torres, who runs 2ndwnd design studio in Glassell Park.
Born in Mexico City, Torres immigrated to the United States with his family when he was five and grew up in Wilmington. As a laser wood cutter and engraver, the former architect sources most of his art materials from Angel City Lumber in Boyle Heights, which reclaims nearby fallen trees.
His circular 19 1/2-inch repurposed wood piece features the word “Indigenous” etched in brown bold lettering and the term “immigrant,” which is laser etched into the acrylic, crossed out. On a floating piece of glass affixed to the wooden work of art are Native sun acrylic cutouts. The piece is a direct response to the oftentimes unidentified and plainclothed masked ICE agents detaining people they claim are immigrants.
“I have a real problem with that word because the people being targeted are being labeled [immigrant] in lands that are occupied native land,” said Torres, who lives in Highland Park. “We’re not the immigrant. We’re native to these lands. We’re being targeted because of the color of our skin.”
Like many of us, Torres finds it hard to look at the barrage of images and videos on social media of Brown people being thrown to the ground and arrested by ICE.
“It’s hard to go about your day,” said the artist, who in addition to making custom pieces like a collapsible display counter for creatives companies like Todo Verde, sells handmade wood cut jewelry, laser etched skateboard decks and accessories like Whittier Boulevard cake toppers on his website. “When people ask me how I’m doing, it’s hard to say ‘fine’ because we’re not. We feel helpless.”
It’s art that keeps his head up. Whether on the street, in a painting, a flyer or T-shirt design, art encourages him to keep going. Just the other day he saw the words “dignidad y libertad” tagged onto a freeway overpass.
“Graffiti kids are going on the freeway and risking it all with a simple message,” Torres said. “The more imagery, the better. It empowers people to not give up hope through this madness.”
‘Chinga la Migra’ Group Art Show & Fundraiser opens July 11, 6-10 p.m. and runs throughout the month, Espacio 1839, 1839 1st St, Los Angeles, 90033
Such an important story!