{"id":350461,"date":"2025-11-02T14:14:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T14:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/350461\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T14:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T14:14:33","slug":"chicano-artist-ramses-noriega-witness-to-the-rise-of-political-resistance-chronicles-a-pivotal-moment-in-u-s-history-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/350461\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicano artist Ramse\u0301s Noriega, witness to the rise of political resistance, chronicles a pivotal moment in U.S. history \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Curator\u2019s Words<\/strong> is an occasional series that takes a critical look at current exhibitions through the eyes of curators.<\/p>\n

When Rafael Barrientos Martinez first discovered Ramse\u0301s Noriega\u2019s art, he knew he stumbled upon a monumental body of work that provides deep insights into the Chicano community \u2014 where it was, where it is, and where it\u2019s going.<\/p>\n

Martinez \u201cimmediately recognized its importance as it related to the beginning of Chicano art history,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Five years later, Martinez has curated a landmark exhibit, titled \u201cFragmentos Del Barrio,\u201d in Barrio Logan, where the 81-year-old Noriega, who lives in Los Angeles, is in the spotlight at the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center. Telling Noriega\u2019s story fits nicely with the center\u2019s mission: \u201cBy preserving a history of struggle, we will educate and empower individuals to become agents of change in their own communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exhibition, on display through Feb. 28, celebrates the life and work of Noriega and \u201ctraces the artistic journey and political legacy of one of the early pioneers of the Chicano Movement (El Movimiento).\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The exhibit, as described by the museum, \u201cexplores the deeply rooted duality at the heart of Nori\u00e9ga\u2019s practice, uniting his Mexican and American identities, personal reflection and political resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFragmentos Del Barrio\u201d opened to the public on Aug. 29, the 55th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium \u2014 \u201ca pivotal protest in 1970 that called for collective action against the Vietnam War, addressed the high number of Mexican American deployments and casualties, and highlighted issues of police brutality, educational inequities and economic disparities faced by the Chicano community,\u201d according to the museum.<\/p>\n

Indeed, at the Chicano Museum, Noriega\u2019s journey as an artist, political organizer and cultural commentator is chronicled in a major retrospective that\u2019s a snapshot of 30 years of his artistic life, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. His work is at once an artistic expression and political commentary, an exercise in exploring identity and ideology at a politically charged time in American history.<\/p>\n

The importance of this tribute is not lost on Noriega, who through images and the written word, has and continues to be a cultural observer and, perhaps more importantly, a conduit for societal change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe exhibition proposes a new vision for La Raza \u2014 with new challenges and discoveries,\u201d says Noriega, an alumnus of the University of California Los Angeles. \u201cIt represents a clear image of the history of colonization in America, and we are still learning today about this history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez, a guest curator for the Chicano Museum, talks about Noriega, his life\u2019s trajectory, his body of work and its place \u201cwithin the context of the Mexican and American political and art history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: Tell us a little bit about Ramse\u0301s Noriega and his place in the history of the Chicano community.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> What I\u2019d like to say is that Ramse\u0301s embodies the hyphen in Mexican-American. As a community organizer, he was among the visionary few that conceived the framework that brought the Chicano community, from throughout California and beyond, together to protest against the Vietnam War in Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Many would agree it was this series of protests and events that marked the beginning of El Movimiento.<\/p>\n

As an artist, his artworks and political graphics of the 1960s and \u201870s stand as manifestations of the struggle and resistance that became El Movimiento, bringing together both Mexican and American artistic sensibilities to create a style distinct within the Chicana\/o art movement.<\/p>\n

Biographically, Ramse\u0301s moved to the United States in his teens in the 1950s to be met by all of the traumas and barriers that Chicanas\/os faced at that time. From being a young farm worker, to becoming a community organizer, to becoming one of the most important artistic voices of his generation of Chicanos, I would say he is a very important member of the Chicano community but, more importantly, of our history.<\/p>\n

\""Acculturation"<\/a>\u201cAcculturation\u201d by Ramses Noriega (acrylic on artist board, 1978) is part of \u201cFragmentos Del Barrio,\u201d a 60-year retrospective of Noriega\u2019s work, that opens Aug. 29 at the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center. (Ramses Noriega)<\/p>\n

Q: The exhibit \u201cFragmentos Del Barrio,\u201d currently on display at the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center, is an important collection of artworks because it looks back at his work over a long period. Whose idea was it to mount this monumental exhibition, and how did it land in San Diego?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> The exhibition examines three decades of work, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, roughly the first half of Ramse\u0301s\u2019 career. The planning of an exhibition like this for Ramse\u0301s has been in the works for almost five years. As a young art historian and curator, I selfishly wanted to see for myself an exhibition like this that examined this crucial part of our history.<\/p>\n

While he has created much more recent work, it is important to document this particular period because it is truly revelatory about the history of Chicanos\/as in the United States.<\/p>\n

How it landed at the Chicano Park Museum? The incredible staff at the museum wanted to honor Ramse\u0301s with an exhibition and their vision for a show happened to align with what we have been working on!<\/p>\n

Q: This exhibition opened on the 55th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium. Tell us about that pivotal moment in history, and its significance with regard to Noriega\u2019s work.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> By 1967, over 10,000 American GIs had lost their lives in the Vietnam War, not to mention Vietnamese losses and those of other nationalities. Of those deployed, a disproportionate number of Brown and Black individuals were drafted for various racialized reasons.<\/p>\n

Angered by the targeting of individuals from their community by the government as well as by the arguably needless war itself, marches were organized across the United States to protest this reality, calling for an end to the violence.<\/p>\n

Ramse\u0301s Noriega and Rosalio Mu\u00f1oz organized the series of protests that occurred in Los Angeles, culminating in the Chicano Moratorium march on Aug. 29, 1970, the largest of such events in the United States with between 20,000 to 30,000 individuals of all nationalities in attendance. At this peaceful family event, officers began to clash with attendees, ending in the injury and arrest of many, and the death of three: Lyn Ward and Angel Gilberto D\u00edaz, both Brown Beret members, and Rub\u00e9n F. Salazar, the award-winning Chicano Los Angeles Times journalist.<\/p>\n

In the 1960s and \u201870s, Noriega approached art making with the life experiences he had collected since his childhood. From walking the streets of Mexicali, crossing the Mexico-United States border with his sister, to an American class system so obvious and distinguishable to even a young child, all of these traumas fed his frustrations and anxieties and would be channeled into his art practice addressing the preposterousness of life. Also at this time it was Ramse\u0301s who created many of the graphics that advertised the moratorium marches and accompanying community organizing events.<\/p>\n

\"Rams\u00e8s<\/a>Rams\u00e8s Noriega, work is featured in a new exhibit \u201cFragmentos Del Barrio at the Chicano Park Museum. \u201cAutodestruccion \u2013 Mirror Life\/Death\u201d 1968 on display in Barrio Logan on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Alejandro Tamayo \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Q: When were you first exposed to Noriega and his work, and as curator, how difficult \u2014 or easy \u2014 was it to assemble his body of work for this exhibition?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> I was first exposed to Ramse\u0301s\u2019 work about five years ago and immediately recognized its importance as it related to the beginning of Chicano art history. What made this exhibition easier to assemble than others I have worked on is the fact that so much of the work has been retained within Noriega\u2019s archive of works and related ephemera. What has been hard has been thinking through how to frame his work within the context of the Mexican and American political and art history.<\/p>\n

Q: Were there any surprises when you were working on this show? If so, what were they?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> What was a big surprise for me was to find a quite extensive archive of the artist\u2019s book collection, all annotated by the young organizer, shedding light on what and how he was thinking during this era. We have examples from this collection in display cabinets throughout the exhibition.<\/p>\n