If you find yourself among the various attractions and shops located in Arts District Liberty Station, take a walk to Gallery 201. On the second floor, you will find an exhibition by two local artists whose work combines painting and textiles to explore identity, history and the body as women of color.
Eden DeLaVara and Marcela Alarcón López finished their Emerging Artist Residency at Arts District Liberty Station last year. At the end of the program, artists participate in an end-of-year exhibition.
Their exhibition is called “Fragmented Stories.”
DeLaVara said the showcase represents them both as a pair and as individual artists.
“Marcela and I’s work does pull in some different directions but I think there's also a lot of the unity in what we're trying to say,” DeLaVara said. “So I think (the words) fragments and stories kind of encapsulates those things.”
When you look at their art displayed on the gallery walls, it almost looks as if they planned it together.
“I didn't see her and she didn't see me, but we saw each other's work, and then I started catching myself unconsciously using the same colors,” López said.
Gaby Quevedo is the associate director of creative programs at Arts District Liberty Station. She said arts programs like this are a big deal for the Arts District.
“Honestly, just a huge accomplishment in terms of our program kind of uniting these artists that come from our local transborder region from San Diego and Tijuana that don't know each other prior to residency.”
While DeLaVara resides in San Diego, López had to cross the border from Tijuana every time she wanted to work on her art.
“It was like a very hard process walking the border and then getting to the trolley and then the bus,” López said. “Then come and paint and then go back, and it was like a very nerve-racking and a very harsh experience.”
Sometimes, to save time, López said she’d sleep in the studio.
López said the residency brought her more exposure, but it also made her feel more vulnerable to public comment, including negative messages on her Instagram account and a feeling of being monitored every time she crossed the border.
She said this experience helped shape the main theme that comes across in her paintings — surveillance.
“I started thinking about this virtual surveillance and all these notifications I was receiving from ICE and the border and the visa and in my bank account and my emails, just for crossing the border,” López said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm being uh identified.’”
During the process of traveling and creating her art, López said she doesn't necessarily feel connected to the “American Dream.”
“I'm not an American in a nationalist way or in a legal way, right? I am an American in the sense that I live in America, the continent.”
She said she hopes arts programs like this will repurpose
DeLaVara said she also feels frustrated by where the country stands today.
“You see that number (250 years) and for all of the effort and work that's been put in, surely there should be more to show for it.”
DeLaVara’s father is Mexican and her mother is Black. She said growing up in a country that hasn't always been kind to those communities made it difficult to fully explore her identity.
“I feel like I am the product of histories that I don't have access to. There are voids and veils in my own family history that result in a lack of access to my own personal history, knowledge of my ancestors,” DeLaVara said.
DeLaVara also has a personal connection to both America and Liberty Station.
“My grandpa came to San Diego in the Navy, and this was the first place he came right before my mom was born. He was trained here.”
Because of the sacrifices her family made when they first came to San Diego, she said she is still hopeful about the future and proud of the heritage she does know.
“One of the things that I think is beautiful about America, and specifically being Black in America, is this really rich legacy of creativity,” DeLaVara said. “And I think America is a place that is really rich with creatives of all backgrounds.”
Quevedo said the Emerging Artist Residency creates a space for artists of all backgrounds to learn from one another.
“Creating kind of a geographical reach, not only San Diego but also our south-of-the-border neighbors, to come here and to create opportunities for all of that population of artists,” Quevedo said.
Even though the country’s 250th birthday brings up complicated feelings for both artists, DeLaVara said coming together through art matters now more than ever.
“Each piece of work that we make in partnership with one another is one step closer to building a bridge and understanding that in many ways we both are American. We both live on this continent, in this land that we share.”
Their showcase, “Fragmented Stories,” will be on view at Arts District Liberty Station through July 17.
