On an almost six feet tall sculpture made up of produce boxes, there’s a full body sketch of a man in ink and charcoal.
The boxes, wearing recognizable brands like Chiquita and Sunkist, are stacked up on top of each other. The man sketched on the boxes is wearing a white baseball cap, with a bandana wrapped around his nose and mouth — only his eyes are visible.
Like much of , the man depicted in Magic Harvest is a migrant farmworker, inspired by Martinez’s brief time working on agriculture fields after he immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in the late 1990s.
“[Martinez] makes that individual visible to basically a nation that's used to consuming fruits and vegetables, but not knowing how that fruit actually arrived at their table,” said Gilbert Vicario, chief curator at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).
Martinez is one of more than 70 artists featured in PAMM’s newest exhibition, “.” It was co-curated by Vicario, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill and Marissa Del Toro, and it’s on display until March 30, 2025.
The exhibition’s title is a take on the term “Chicano,” which is an ethnic identity commonly used by Mexican-Americans in the U.S., particularly in the West.
The term dates back to the early 1900s, first used as a slur toward lower-class Mexican-Americans or recent Mexican immigrants. But by the 1960s, being a Chicano became something to be proud of. The led Mexican-Americans to embrace their heritage, while also fighting for farmworker and labor rights, land reclamation and educational reforms.
Some of the work in "Xican-a.o.x. Body" references much of this movement and what it means to be a Chicano — then and now.
READ MORE: Study sets to recognize the history of Miami-Dade's migrant farmworker community
“It's an exhibition that's dense with information, it's intergenerational,” said Vicario. “It really positions artists who were working in the 1960s to artists that are working in the present.”
There’s also themes around gender and gender fluidity. The exhibition's title, "Xican-a.o.x. Body," acknowledges the feminine with the “a”, masculine with the “o” and gender-neutral with the “x.” All are used interchangeably throughout the exhibit.
“I usually [call it] Chicano Body,” said Vicario, adding that he identifies as masculine. “But you could say Chicana Body or Chicanx Body.”
"Chicano art really does have an impact on who we are as Americans. Nobody knows the story of immigration and of the immigrant better than Miami does."Gilbert Vicario, chief curator at PAMM
About 60% of the artists highlighted in the exhibit are LGBTQ.
Some of their work breaks away from the gender roles often expected from traditional Mexican households. Or the diverse identities one can hold — like in a pair of photographed portraits taken by first-generation , as part of his series called Brown Queer Rancheros.
The subjects in Guerrero’s portraits are openly queer, but still wear some of the attire often associated with hyper masculine men who live and work in the Mexican countryside: cowboy boots, button-ups and Tejano hats.
The portraits challenge the idea of toxic masculinity and the idea that tradition needs to fit a certain framework.
“I remember early on in my career… there was a lot of homophobia and a lot of artists really weren't allowed to participate because of that,” said Vicario, who is Mexican American and grew up in San Diego, California. He adopted the Chicano term early on.
“This exhibition really does celebrate and bring to light a lot of those contributions, and those go back to the 1960s and ‘70s.”
Themes of ‘brownness’ and pop culture
"Xican-a.o.x Body" opens with work centered around “brownness” and “how that defines who we are… [how] people look at us,” said Vicario.
It dives into how multifaceted race and ethnicity can be. Some of the artists identify as Black or Indigenous, in addition to their Mexican heritage. Others have roots tied to other Latin American countries.
The exhibition also covers topics surrounding police brutality and violence.
But arguably the exhibition's standout piece is in a section that deals with Chicano popular culture: A life-sized 辱ñٲ of a lowrider car, titled Gypsy Rose Piñata, by Guatemalan-Mexican-American . It’s a hat tip to Chicano lowrider culture.
Favela modeled Gypsy Rose Piñata after what is considered one of the most famous lowriders in history.
is owned and was designed by Jesse Valadez. The pink Impala covered in rose motifs is an ode to Valadez’s mother. It garnered fame after it was featured in the opening credits of the 1970s TV sitcom Chico and the Man.
“Justin was very much aware of that history and wanted to basically, in some ways, honor that,” said Vicario. “It's a Chicano answer to and his giant hamburgers and hot dogs.”
Chicano pop artists who created work during the Pop Art movement that exploded in the ‘60s are featured in the show. An inclusion that, Vicerio said, was necessary.
“When you start really looking and digging and seeing who was making what at the time… Chicanos, Latin Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans — they were all participating in pop art, but they were just never acknowledged.”
Why 'Xican-a.o.x Body' works in Miami
Vicario’s curational career began in 2004 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston for an exhibit titled , centered around the idea of “labor and of making” in Mexico City.
It was an experience that led him to dedicate the rest of his career to Latin American art.
“That has always stuck with me as a way of including a part of who I am and a part of my cultural heritage in everything that I do,” said Vicario.
His work since then has spanned multiple cities, involving artists from all across the Americas. Before starting his role as chief curator at PAMM almost two years ago, Vicario spent seven years at the Phoenix Art Museum – a move that he called a “coming home.”
His mother was from the state of Sonora, in northern Mexico, which has a desert landscape similar to Arizona.
“In some ways I felt that moving to Miami was going to disrupt that, but in fact it's only made it stronger,” said Vicario. “I feel like I'm in a community that is really centered around Latin American and Latinx identity, and those ideas are just sparking more ideas as I continue.”
It’s why he thought "Xican-a.o.x. Body" would work in a place like South Florida, a region that in many ways is culturally different from the U.S. West.
But when someone would question how an exhibit centered on Chicano identity would play out in Florida, Vicario pointed to the fact that PAMM has art from across the globe — so why not show art from the opposite side of the country?
“Chicano art really does have an impact on who we are as Americans,” said Vicario. “Nobody knows the story of immigration and of the immigrant better than Miami does.
“It's time to examine the contribution that Chicano artists have had on American culture.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: "Xican-a.o.x Body"
WHEN: On display from June 13, 2024 - March 30, 2025
WHERE: The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), 1103 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33132
