Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

KPBS Midday Edition

Only Here Podcast: San Diego Artist Explores Piñatas As Political Art

Promotional graphic for the Mingei Family Sunday.
Courtesy of the Mingei
San Diego artist Diana Benavídez will lead a sugar skull piñata workshop and craft at the Mingei on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021.
When artist Diana Benavídez makes piñatas, they aren't meant to be broken. They get put on pedestals. They become sculptures meant to provoke conversations. Giant tampons. An over-sized can of pepper spray. A drone. Benavídez’s aren’t your average piñatas. Today, a story about an object typically known for its destruction, not creation. Only Here can you find a San Diego artist packing pinatas with political messages instead of candy.

When Diana Benavídez makes piñatas, they aren't meant to be broken. Instead, they get put on pedestals and become sculptures meant to provoke conversations.

The San Diego artist makes piñatas in the shape of things like drones and over-sized bottles of pepper spray, packing her piñata sculptures with political messages instead of candy.

On the newest episode of KPBS' Only Here podcast, producer Kinsee Morlan has a story about the artist and how growing up on both sides of the border impacted her life and her art.