A Discussion With Mexican Street Artist Mazatl and PSU Assistant Professor Alberto McKelligan Hernández
Moderated by Paul Mullowney, Creative Director of Mullowney Printing, Portland
Mexican artist and printmaker Mazatl will be joined by Alberto McKelligan Hernández, assistant professor of art history at Portland State University, to discuss the connections between traditional printmaking in Latin America and contemporary trends in social justice-themed street art and graphics in the contemporary sphere. The discussion will highlight Mazatl’s work in large-scale woodcuts and murals as well as his current work in progress while in residency at the Mullowney Printing’s Federico Sevilla Sierra Printmaking Residency for Mexican artists.
Mazatl is a contemporary Mexican artist whose relief prints, murals, and installations focus on unity, nature, introspection, healing, and liberation. Mazatl's work is characterized by interventions of large-scale woodcuts in public areas, as well as graphic murals. He dedicates a large part of his work towards collaborating with groups, collectives, other artists, and movements that seek social, political, and environmental justice in our communities. He is a member of Justseeds Artists' Cooperative and APC (Animal Power Crew). He resides in Chiapas, Mexico.
Alberto McKelligan Hernández earned his B.A. and M.A. at The University of Texas at Austin, and he completed his Ph.D. at the City University of New York, Graduate Center in 2017. His research received the Carolyn G. Heilbrun Dissertation Prize from CUNY’s Center for the Study of Women and Society. He also curated Mónica Mayer: Translocal Translations, 1978-2018 for Paragon Gallery in Portland. His research on feminist art in Mexico has been published in Nierika: Revista de Estudios de Arte and the Journal of International Women’s Studies.
Sponsored by the Reed College art department. Free and open to the public.