“The Totality of Life”

Having art selected for inclusion with the National Register of Historic Places, earning honorary doctorate degrees from prestigious colleges and having paintings displayed in the National Gallery of Art are somehow regular events for the three women whose work makes up the anatomy of the New Mexico Museum of Art’s current Poetic Justice exhibit.

Now, as easing health restrictions allow for more public programming at spaces like the Museum of Art, those same three artists—Judy Baca, Mildred Howard and Jaune Quick-To-See Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation)—are finally coming together as part of a symposium slated for Saturday, May 28. The event was scheduled for late last year to coincide with each’s contributions to Poetic Justice, but sadly thwarted.

The artists plan to discuss their collective works, stretching from the feminist movement of the 1960s and ‘70s and into our present difficulties; with the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision looming, it seems, some things never change, and artists, as always, help us navigate those minefields. Poets Levi Romero and Edie Tsong will also read works inspired by Baca, Howard and Quick-To-See-Smith’s impact on a broader, more national scale.

For museum Head of Curatorial Affairs Merry Scully, the in-person event is the culmination of a lot of effort and changing public policy and schedules, but also a hard-earned chance to showcase the work and ethos of such notable women artists.

“All three are really on fire,” Scully tells SFR. “They’ve always been important and influential, but in the last few years, there’s really been a new interest. That’s a direct result of their tenacity and single-mindedness.”

Baca’s The Great Wall of Los Angeles proves that tenacity. The piece is one of the longest art projects in the world, earning a spot on the National Register of Historic Places and Baca the nickname of “the mural lady” from participants in the Los Angeles-based justice program who helped her bring the massive project to life. From LA herself, Baca’s career has been defined through social realism in murals, photography and other mediums. Division of the Barrios and Chavez Ravine, for example, currently on display as part of Poetic Justice, finds Mexican-Americans peeking over the very highways that were supposed to connect them but only separate them from their larger communities. Dodger Stadium beams in from the sky like a UFO, looking to plant itself atop historic neighborhoods. Elsewhere in the show, Baca’s digital and sculpture works tackle the stereotype of the lazy Mexican: In Primero de Mayo, the infamous image of a sleeping Mexican man sporting a sombrero is countered by composites of digital photographs adhered to the man’s form and featuring Workers Day marches, where Mexican-Americans remind the nation of the stereotype’s invalid nature.

“I think [Baca] exemplifies giving a voice, both her own voice and that of her community,” Scully explains, “and it brings forth lesser-known history. She’s built a model for community mural programs across the country.”

For Oakland, California’s Howard, art bleeds into autobiography.

“I can remember kids carrying their lunch, and how exciting it was to have a lunch pail,” Howard recalls, describing her piece Square Lunch, a metal lunchbox held by cast representation of her hand in copper. “It must have been back in the ‘90s or early ‘00s when I started casting my hands in various positions. I use my hands a lot when I’m talking. I wanted to see what it was like to cast objects in my hand and hold something I knew.”

Square Lunch, despite its small size, is a stand-out in Poetic Justice. The copper hand is stark black, its fingers gripping the handle of a red plaid lunchbox reminiscent of plastic tablecloths in a grandmother’s house. It evokes a similar emotional response present in many of Howard’s works—a reminder of life’s precious necessities and how Black Americans are often denied such securities.

Nearby, a custom toy train set crafted by Howard prepares to make its semi-regular journey. Scully tells SFR it originally ran all day, but now its schedule is more sporadic so as not to burn out the electronics. Howard has collected safety deposit boxes for decades and uses them as the cars in Tha Dogg Express. Each is painted with the name of a historic Black neighborhood, which so-called progressive actions, like building railroads and highways, have notoriously damaged or dismantled. And yes, please think of Snoop Dogg when you read the title—Tha Dogg Express leads the -neighborhoods forward, even if the deposit boxes remain empty.

“Snoop Dogg is unapologetically Black,” Howard says. “He’s got this old-school way of walking and talking and being himself, and that’s what I like about him. [Tha Dogg Express] is dedicated to him, but it’s also about communities that have been disrupted by urban development. If they’re still around, they’ve become gentrified.”

Further in the show, Howard eschews physical art for film. With footage she shot herself in 1959, the short film The Time and Space of Now meditates on the past and how it reflects on the present, a common thread tying one Howard piece to the others. The film plays on a loop in the exhibition.

Quick-To-See-Smith, meanwhile, might be known worldwide for her abstract works such as the I See Red series which reflects on questions of Native identity, but her smaller sketch series like Paper Dolls From A Post Columbian World pack an equal punch. Crafted in response to the celebrations for Columbus’ quincentenary, Smith morphed the innocence of paper dolls to reflect the reality of Native life. Her dolls wear “smallpox suits” and maid’s outfits, reflecting the bleak rewards Indigenous people received for surviving boarding schools and other forms of colonialism and genocide. Her works are also known for simple, no-fuss titles, which allow spectators to build their own impressions. A Nickel For Your Thoughts enlarges an early 20th century coin featuring bison on one side and a silhouetted Indigenous person on the other (the word “Liberty” hovers over their head). Regular use of varying shades of red reflects both the racist terminology and the anger the color evokes.

“The scale of those works is part of what makes them so impressive,” Scully explains. “That nickel is thousands of times the size it would be in real life. It allows for so much collage and scale.”

Poetic Justice is, according to Scully, forever timely.

“All of art is the totality of life experiences, synthesized really well [here],” she explains. “It understands itself and its voice. It has real level of skill going with such clarity. We wanted to show the work and address the politics and social issues, but also celebrate their tenacity and brilliance.”

Poetic Justice Symposium: Saturday May 28, 10:30 am. Free. New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5063