ARTS: Pocho Research Society

Sandra de la Loza is a Chicana artist, activist, and educator who lives and works in Los Angeles. A co-founder of the Arts and Action center, she’s an interdisciplinary artist who uses photography, installation and digital media to explore the social realities of LA. One of Sandra’s projects has been the Pocho Research Society (PRS), in her words “…a collective of artists, activists and rasquache historians who reside in Los Angeles. Dedicated to the systematic investigation of space, memory and displacement, the PRS understands history as a battleground of the present, a location where hidden & forgotten selves hijack & disrupt the oppression of our moment.”

¡Hijole!… what does that mean? As an example, the PRS initiated Operation Invisible Monument, where the important but invisible landmarks of LA were commemorated with mock historic plaques courtesy of the pochistas. One such plaque was placed on the downtown LA building where the whitewashed mural of David Alfaro Siqueiros, Tropical America, is currently being restored. In part the plaque read “Tropical America continues to be invisible, even as it undergoes the process of restoration; the date which it will be recovered for the eyes of the public remains uncertain. For 70 years it has existed under a veil, whitewashed, a symbol of an erased history that yet endures; an extant but secret Mexican and Indigenous heart for the city of Los Angeles.” Needless to say, the official looking plaque was taken down by city officials within hours. Sandra de la Loza will be moving to Mexico city for the summer, where she intends to communicate with the world through her web log on the thriving art/activist scene in Ciudad de México. You can view Sandra’s web site at: www.hijadela.com [ posted by artist, Mark Vallen ]