Through the end of January: Move yourself to Big Car for an exhibit of art inspired by Mexican protests

Local artist Sarah Zeta Zuckerman shows "Carteles" at Big Car Gallery (Fountain Square)

When: Through the end of January
Where: Big Car Fountain Square 1043 Virginia Ave. Suite 215 Indianapolis 46203

IndyBuzz's "First Friday" pick for January was "Carteles" [Spanish for "poster"], the Big Car opening of Sarah Zeta Zuckerman's solo exhibition, featuring works of art inspired by political and environmental brutality witnessed by the artist. "Carteles" is an assortment of small drawings, yard signs, clothing, and paintings. The art is priced low, says Zuckerman, "in an attempt to put it out on the streets and in the hands of the masses. Given its cutting-edge, socialist, and contemporary philosophies on the nature of art and its public accessibility, Big Car Gallery was natural fit for this body of work."

The catalysts for the exhibition, Zuckerman says, were public school teachers' demonstrations and police brutality that ravaged the Mexican city and state of Oaxaca. While studying indigenous art in the Oaxaca over the summer, she witnessed the government-ordered police brutality during a peaceful demonstration led by public school teachers, parents, and students protesting for higher teacher wages. As a public school teacher (teaching art at Indianapolis Public Schools' The Key Learning Community), Zuckerman had a great deal of interest and investment in the plight of the teachers. She describes how beginning June 14, 2006, police brutality rained down from helicopter and riot squads, inflaming the demonstrators, and turning a once peaceful city into a war zone. Naturally, this deeply affected millions of families throughout the entire state of Oaxaca, Mexico. 1.3 million public school children did not begin the August semester, and the majority of public school buildings stood empty, while the government headquarters in town had been seized and occupied by members of the revolting APPO party. The protest began May 22, and is still underway, gaining momentum and members from various leftist groups and agencies.

Sarah Zuckerman is an active participant of almost every field of cutting-edge art and culture in Indianapolis, from teaching to dance to the spoken word ... plus she was winner of "Masterpiece in a Day."

If this event sounds interesting, you should check out some of the others related to Mexico coming up. Craig Auchter talks about Mexico on February 7, and Steve Smith addresses the topic February 20. For a perspective about another marginalized group in Mexico, see "African Blood," the film about African-Mexicans at IMA February 22. Conflict and poverty elsewhere in Latin America are topics featured by two of Marian College's Franciscan Center for Global Studies speakers: an official from the World Bank talks about post-conflict Central America; and an influential priest talks about the Catholic Church's work in Latin America.

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