CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Explore our curated showcases that captivate the essence of our contemporary artistic expressions. From thought-provoking installations to vibrant visual narratives, discover the pulse of our current exhibitions and join us in reshaping the canvas of cultural conversation in Charlotte, North Carolina.
MINT MUSEUM – GUIDING WINDS
The history of humanity is a story of movement—groups migrating over land and water, carrying their ancestral practices with them. Traces remain, even when a tribe has moved on or hostile outsiders try to erase those traditions. Stories and symbols integrate, creating cultural strata that create a timeline of all who lived on a land. The maps and explanations throughout museum galleries illustrate this—sometimes overtly, other times subtly.
Rosalía Torres-Weiner began her story in Mexico City and then emigrated north to the United States, first to Los Angeles and then east to Charlotte, where she has lived for over 25 years. Self-taught, she started as a mural artist and has since developed a studio practice that encompasses traditional painting, theater performance, arts education, and augmented reality. She balances technological innovation with the ancient symbols of her Latinx heritage, melding indigenous and European traditions.
Over the last decade, Torres-Weiner has increasingly focused on the stories of other travelers, especially undocumented children living in the United States. She has developed arts programs specifically to help young people process the trauma that develops from extended periods of anxiety—and for many, the loss of one or both parents because of deportation. Torres-Weiner now calls herself an “ARTivist,” the better to encompass her role as artist, muralist, and social activist.
“I wanted to bring arts to our community, especially now that people are afraid to go out to buy groceries and bread. My idea is to bring the arts to underserved neighborhoods and provide art workshops, especially for children. Art is powerful and not just to hang on the wall. It’s a weapon to express our stories.
GUIDING WINDS VR IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL TOUR
CAMERON ART MUSEUM – LUGAR DE Encuentros
May 11, 2023 – January 14, 2024
North Carolina is home to a rich diversity of voices, and this is reflected in its community of Latin American artists. Work from Lugar de Encuentros / Place of Encounters often straddles two worlds, reflecting both birthplace and resettlement, exploring both tension and harmony in the relationship between the two. From film to installation art to paintings to photography, this exhibition delves into the variety of migrant experiences, offering a space for connection, a chance to encounter another’s experience through art. Artists include Nico Amortegui, Cornelio Campos, Rodrigo Dorfman, Mario Marzan, Renzo Ortega, Rosalia Torres-Weiner.
LUGAR DE Encuentros – VR IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL TOUR
PAST EXHIBITS
ELDER GALLERY OF CONTEMPORARY ART
May 3rd – June 15th, 2019
Rosalia Torres-Weiner is an artist, activist and community leader. Her work is featured in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum and has been exhibited in venues including the McColl Center for Arts and Innovation, Levine Museum of the New South, UNCC’s Projective Eye Gallery, the City of Raleigh Museum, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington D.C. Her public murals celebrate the rich history of her native Mexico and the changing demographics of the US-American South. She uses her art to document social conditions and raise awareness about issues affecting immigrant communities, including family separation, racism and overcoming stereotypes. Her work was recently featured in a solo exhibition at Georgia College’s Leland Gallery in October 2018. She has been a guest speaker for the North Carolina ASC, Johnson & Wales University, George Washington University, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, and the Southern Foodways Alliance. Through her Red Calaca Mobile Art Studio, a 24-foot “Art Truck”, she takes the arts directly to people in under-served immigrant communities in Charlotte.
GEORGIA COLLEGE STATE UNIVERSITY LELAND GALLERY
“Facing America” Solo Exhibit, October 1-26, 2018
Rosalia Torres-Weiner is an artist, activist and community leader in Charlotte, NC. Her art captures the themes, colors and rich symbolism of her native home of Mexico. In 2010, Rosalia shifted the focus of her work from commercial art to art activism, after witnessing the repeated injustices and dysfunction of the U.S. immigration system. Her public murals celebrate the rich history as well as the changing demographics in the American south. She also uses her art to document social conditions, and to raise awareness about the issues affecting immigrant communities such as family separation, access to public education, racism and moving beyond common stereotypes. Her work is included in the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum permanent art collection. She has exhibited her artworks at the McColl Center for Arts and Innovation, Levine Museum of the New South, UNCC’s Projective Eye Gallery, the City of Raleigh Museum, the Latin American Center for Arts Gallery, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and the Mexican Cultural Institute at the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C. This exhibition is curated by Georgia College senior art major Frida Hooper Campos, in fulfillment of her Museum Studies capstone thesis project.
SMITHSONIAN ANACOSTIA COMMUNITY MUSEUM, WASHINGTON DC
Gateways, December 2017- January 7, 2018
Gateways explores the changing demographics of the urban U.S. through the experiences of Latino (im)migrants in four important but less-recognized cities. The project is based in the DC metro area and comparatively examines: Baltimore, MD; Charlotte, NC; and Raleigh-Durham, NC.
LEVINE MUSEUM OF THE NEW SOUTH, CHARLOTTE
NUEVOLUTION, September 2015 – November 2016
Created by Levine Museum, in collaboration with Atlanta History Center and Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the exhibit aims to engage Latinos of many backgrounds together with non-Latinos—serving as a catalyst for personal reflection, cross-cultural interaction and community engagement. It will create civic spaces physically and virtually to deepen understanding of Latinos’ histories, cultures and experiences, foster connection across difference and promote exploration of contentious issues in a safe environment.
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