2020-Present
Modesta Avila Obstructing Development Since 1889 (#MAOD) is a collaborative digital storytelling initiative supported by the 2020 University of Houston Recovering the US Hispanic Heritage Program / US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) GRANTS-IN-AID funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Read more about the concept and collaborators here.
Modesta Avila has made AR appearances at the Looking Back, Moving Forward: the Wisdom of Older Women exhibition held at Fullerton Museum from May 13th, 2023 to August 13th, 2023 and currently awaiting unveiling as part of the the Womxn of Color at the Frontlines in Orange County online museum, founded and curated by Sarah Rafael Garcia.
Still an active project. Click on image to meet Modesta Avila.
2019
"Para Mi Tía-Abuela Carmen"
The Patchwork Healing Blanket – Piece by Piece and Country by Country public art project and demonstration against violence towards women, children and mother earth!
August 2019 - Shipped to Oaxaca, Mexico
Click on image to see how it was made.
2019
Reality Check 3rd Ward was supported through the KGMCA+PRH Fellowship administered by the University of Houston's Center for Art & Social Engagement & Project Row Houses. The research time included mentorship and community-based collaborations. Learn about it here.
Still an active project. Click on image to view virtual timeline.
2019
"A Book’s Journey" is a response to the concept of "being American" and who gets to tell those stories. It's a collaborative upcycled book installation initiated and installed by conceptual artist and writer Sarah Rafael García and includes work by artists Rebecca Gonzales, Sean Guyer and Lucas Murgida.
AMERICAN
March 7 — April 6, 2019 @ GWC Art Gallery
As a writer, conceptual artist and performance ethnographer, I offer historical counter-narratives for my gender and culture, while integrating contemporary social justice themes, digital humanities, and creative narrative structures of people of color without the constraints imposed by society or traditional storytelling.
Social practice y más...
2019
"LibroMobile" a book mobile installation. The design of the LibroMobile is nostalgic of the iconic paletero carts or fruit vendors that are part of downtown Santa Ana, CA.
Publishing Against the Grain
February 2 – March 28, 2019 @ Pitzer Art Galleries
2017
SanTana’s Fairy Tales is an oral history, multi-media storytelling project, which integrates community-based narratives to create contemporary fairytales and fables that represent the history and stories of Mexican/Mexican-American residents of Santa Ana, California (inspired by the Grimms’ Fairy Tales).
It was supported in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, through a grant supporting the Artist-in-Residence initiative at CSUF Grand Central Art Center. It evolved into a collaborative, traveling exhibition that initiated in Santa Ana, California in March 2017 and toured various campuses and art spaces in Texas through October 2019 via support from Mexican American Studies departments at community colleges, universities, and the UH Center for Public History. Watch the presentation here.
Traveling Collaborators: Gloria Estrada, Carla Zarate Suarez, and Ruby Castellanos, read more about them and learn from the digital archives here. Click on image to read a review.
