- Title
- Familia
- Date Made
- 2022
- Medium
- Screenprint
- Dimensions
- Primary support: 30 1/16 × 22 1/2 in. (76.36 × 57.15 cm)
Image: 29 1/16 × 21 7/8 in. (73.82 × 55.56 cm)
Frame: 33 1/2 × 26 in. (85.09 × 66.04 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2023.89.2
- Collecting Area
- Prints and Drawings
- Curatorial Notes
In Familia (Family), artists Alfonso Aceves and Adriana Carranza—known as Kalli Arte Collective—sit with their four children standing behind them. Familia is a response to the COVID-19 pandemic: using a photograph as source material, the work represents togetherness at a time when so many people were forced into physical isolation. Around the figures, the artists have composed a dynamic framework featuring design elements that symbolize aspects of their Mesoamerican heritage: eyes within the sun and the moon represent the passing of time; hands holding corn signify Mother Earth; nopales and other cacti are markers of the family’s Indigenous ancestry; and flames reference rebirth.
The bond between parent and child is reflected in the name Aceves and Carranza selected for their enterprise: kalli is the Nahuatl word for home, which, the artists have stated, represents “the foundation of our culture. It allows for our survival and protection. We must understand that the status of our bodies, homes, and community reflects the status of our spirits.” The Los Angeles–based print atelier Self Help Graphics & Art was central to the production of Familia: the organization is a vital conduit for the creation and dissemination of screenprints, primarily those created by artists from Latinx communities in Southern California.
Claudine Dixon
2023
- Selected Bibliography
- Schillo, Eve, and Claudine Dixon. Before You Now: Capturing the Self in Portraiture; Ante Usted: La Captura del Ser en el Retrato. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2024.
- Copyright
- © Kalli Arte Collective
