Before making her first screen print in 2005, Melanie Cervantes would escape the “U.C. Berkeley culture” by taking regular trips to the Mission District to admire the flourishing xicano art and mural movement while treating herself to a torta.
“I had a hard time at Berkeley,” Cervantes told the audience at Modern Times Bookstore on Thursday night. “My escape was coming to the Mission and checking out the murals. I was just an art fan then.”
After taking a printmaking class at Laney Community College in Oakland, Cervantes discovered a way to combine her passion for art with her political ideology – and found a partner who shared her ambitions.
In 2007, Cervantes joined forces with graphic artist Jesus Barazza. Together, the husband-and-wife duo formed Dignidad Rebelde, an Oakland-based graphic arts collaboration.
A reflection of community struggles and activism around the globe, their unique prints draw attention to the stories of everyday people in struggle while inspiring community building through art and education.
“Our work follows the principles of the Zapatismo and Xicanismo movements,” said Cervantes.
“Our politics operate in a graphic way.”
Working with community based organizations, Cervantes and Barraza create prints for political rallies, museums, collectors’ exhibitions, and community centers.
“The (Dignidad Rebelde) prints follow a great tradition of printmaking,” said Adan Griego, a curator for Latin American, Mexican American and Iberian Collections at Stanford University.
“The history aspect of their artwork is very inspiring.”
Citing the Zapatista uprising in 1994 as a major influence for their prints, Cervantes and Barraza have created prints that depict a variety of topics, from the ongoing war and occupation in the Gulf and Middle East, the Palestinian intifadas, Afro-centricity in the 1990s, to indigenous and international solidarity movements.
“As graphic artists operating from the left and below, we felt like the little bit of space we have to get messages out is really important,” said Cervantes.
Besides conducting print-making workshops and producing prints for grassroots organizations, Cervantes and Barraza plan on teaching screen printing during a three-week program at “La Madriguera,” a cultural center in Havana, Cuba.
“We try to re-connect and re-educate our people,” said Barraza, who now mentors young artists and teaches them about printmaking. “There was a very long gap in xicano printmaking in the Bay Area. To me, it’s very important to pass on these skills.”
Another important aspect of Dignidad Rebelde is putting the art back into the hands of the community. With prints ranging from $5 to $100, Cervantes and Barraza do not count on the art as their livelihood, but as a medium to inspire social change and preserve culture.
“If we can’t keep our work accessible enough so that the subjects in our prints can afford to buy them, what’s the point?” said Cervantes. “You have to ask yourself, ‘is the value of the piece in the monetary response, or the meaning it has in the community where it comes from?’”
Cervantes continues to work full-time at her day job – he reality of creating art in a capitalistic society.
“We live in a society where culture is not valued as a contribution,” said Cervantes. “I am so thankful that I found this medium as a way to feel empowered.”
On Saturday, April 10, Cervantes and Barraza will present a printmaking workshop, available for donation. Space is limited, so please pre-register now by calling the store at 415 282 9246 or emailing events@moderntimesbookstore.com