Juan R. Fuentes
(American, b.1950)
Primas & Primos de Chihuahua, 2019
Woodblock print
18 x 24 inches
Courtesy of the Artist
In December of 2017, Juan R. Fuentes traveled to Chihuahua, Mexico, to visit extended family. Fuentes had not been to Mexico in more than ten years, due to perceived difficulties associated with crossing the border around Ciudad Juarez. He took many photographs of his cousins, which provided the source material for this linocut. Through this work, Fuentes hoped to contradict the lies spewed by the Trump administration about Mexicans. He was surprised to learn, contrary to what he had heard or read via news media, that the border was not closed. Instead, he saw thousands of Mexicans who live in the US traverse the border to visit their families during the holidays. He wanted to create a work of art that portrayed his cousins with dignity, “doing well, living their lives, raising their families.”
Biography
A graduate of San Francisco State University, Fuentes is a cultural activist, artist, and printmaker who has dedicated his career to social change. His works address issues related to social justice, international struggles for liberation, and local communities of color, in particular the Chicano, African American, Middle Eastern, Asian and Native American struggles for equality, peace, and justice.
In 2007, after 10 years as Director of Mission Gráfica at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Fuentes resigned and created Pajaro Editions, a printmaking studio that is part of Consejo Gráfico Nacional, a collective of Chicano/Latino print studios. His prints and posters have been exhibited internationally and can be found at the Mexican Museum and Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art and the Library of Congress, in Washington D.C.; the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles, and California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA), University of Santa Barbara, where his personal archive has been set up. Fuentes is the recipient of such prestigious awards as the Harriet Barlow Award from Blue Mountain Center, Activist Award from Southern Graphics Council International, and Art is a Hammer Award from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, among others. He has taught at City College, San Francisco, the California College of the Arts, Oakland, and was visiting faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute print department.
