Shaping the Past
In 2017, when the City of Los Angeles replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, for many, it was a call to action to uplift the forgotten, hidden, and censored narratives of Los Angeles, specifically centering Yaangna (LA's original name) and the Indigenous communities; the Tongva, Tataviam, and Chumash Tribal Nations that call this place their ancestral homeland.
On
Monday, Oct. 12th, Indigenous Peoples Day, and within the context of the project Shaping the Past, artist and cultural organizer Joel Garcia will be taking over the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles' social media channels (
Instagram,
Facebook,
Twitter) to highlight some of these narratives of place, peoples, and memory while challenging viewers to consider the impacts of erasure.
Follow Garcia's work via his
website,
Instagram,
Facebook, and
Twitter.
Joel Garcia is an Artist, Arts Administrator and Cultural Organizer with more than 20 years of experience working transnationally focusing on community-centered strategies. His approach is rooted in Indigenous-based forms of dialoguing and decision-making (non-hierarchical) that uplifts non-institutional expertise. Joel uses art and organizing to raise awareness of issues facing underserved communities, inner-city youth, and\ other targeted populations. He’s the co-founder of Meztli Projects, an Indigenous based arts & culture collaborative centering indigeneity into the creative practice of Los Angeles by using arts-based strategies to advocate for and organize to highlight issues impacting native artists and youth.
Shaping the Past is partnership of the Goethe-Institut, Monument Lab, and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education).
The project connects to the activist and artistic work of local, national, and transnational movements as a reflection of memory culture and discusses new perspectives on forms of memory.
Back
