Yanga Fest! and The African Presence In Mexico Exhibit at the DuSable Museum

The Du Sable Museum

presents Yanga Fest !

Saturday, August 28 and Sunday, August 29, 2010

and

The African Presence In Mexico exhibit

“The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present”*

A New Exhibition To Open At The DuSable Museum

Chicago, IL. (12 July 2010) —- The DuSable Museum of African American History is pleased to announce a new exhibition, “The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present,” presented by The National Museum of Mexican Art. This critically acclaimed exhibition will open on Friday, August 13, 2010 and continue through Sunday, November 14, 2010 at The DuSable which is located at 740 East 56th Place (57th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue) in Chicago.

Curated by Sangrario Cruz of the University of Veracruz and the National Museum of Mexican Art’s Visual Arts Director Cesareo Moreno, this exhibition through paintings, photographs, lithographs and historical texts, highlights the impact that Africans had on Mexican culture and examines the complexity of race, culture, politics, and social stratification. No exhibition has showcased the history, artistic expressions and practices of Afro-Mexicans in such broad scope as this one, which includes a comprehensive range of artwork from 18th Century Colonial caste paintings to contemporary artistic expressions. The African Presence in Mexico is also a bilingual exhibition that includes text panels, tours and various educational and public programming in both English and Spanish. Organized and originally presented by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, this traveling exhibition has made stops in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, D.C., and California, as well as Monterrey and Veracruz, Mexico. The exhibition features important historical figures, such as Yanga, an African leader and founder of the first free African township in the Americas (January 6, 1609), and illuminates the contributions of Africans to the artistic, culinary, musical and cultural traditions of Mexican culture from the past through the present day.

http://www.dusablemuseum.org/