UTEP exhibit featuring art created by migrant children ends this Saturday
EL PASO, Texas - UTEP's Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Deserts gardens invites you to join them for Las Posadas at the Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens on Saturday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., in conjunction with the closing celebration of the Uncaged Art exhibition.
Visitors will have an opportunity to see Uncaged Art before it closes to the public. The exhibition presents the works of art of youth, ages 13-17, who were detained at the Tornillo detention center in West Texas. Comprised of paintings, drawings, and 3D art installations made of found materials, the work reflects the resiliency, talent, and creativity of young men and women who trekked 2,000 miles from their homes in Central America to reach the United States.
Enjoy excerpts of "Escape from Tornillo" by the Tornillo Collective led by Nancy Lorenza Green and Raquel Barrientos Mejia. The Tornillo Collective was founded in 2018 in El Paso, Texas, as a diverse, multidisciplinary group of teaching and performing artists from the U.S.-Mexico border region. "Escape from Tornillo" is a two-act play about unaccompanied refugee minors in detention centers like those found in Tornillo, Texas.
As part of the closing celebration, visitors will have an opportunity to enjoy traditional holiday foods and drinks, traditional craft making, and enjoy an acoustic performance by Frontera Bugalú . Frontera Bugalú is a musical project developed by accordionist, guitarist, vocalist and composer Kiko Rodriguez and pianist Joel Osvaldo in El Paso, Texas in 2011. The group has become well-known for its lively música fronteriza, a combination of borderland folk, mambo and cumbia music.
Las Posadas (the Inns) is a holiday tradition celebrated in Mexico, the U.S., and in many Latin America communities, between December 16-24th, brought to the Americas by the Spanish. The traditional song "asking for Posada" refers to the journey of Mary and Joseph traveling from place to place, asking for lodging, similar to what the border communities have been experiencing with the influx of Central American migrant families seeking refuge in the U.S.
Today, Posadas are typically celebrated with song, placing one group of singers, or "Inn-Keepers", within a residence while a second group of singers, or "pilgrims" stand outside requesting lodging at the inn through song. The "In-Keepers" respond by singing that there is no place at the inn. The "pilgrims" travel from home to home until they arrive at their final destination where the "In-Keepers" invites them in to take shelter for the night.
Admission is free and open to the public, accompanied by lite bites and drinks. The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens is located 610 W University St., El Paso, TX 79902. For more information, please contact Claudia Ley, Education Curator, at 915-747-8994 or Juan Barragan, Administrative Assistant, at 915-747-6667.
