Si Se Puede: Community, Memory, and Xicana Feminist Practice

Join featured artist Carmen Lomas Garza and panelists Amalia Mesa Bains and Carmen Guerrero in a special discussion moderated by Alana Hernandez, that delves into community solidarity, cultural memory, and collective resistance within labor activism inspired by the retrospective, Carmen Lomas Garza: Picturing the Familiar. Date: Sunday, May 3rd, 2026  Time: 12-1:30 pm Location: ASU Art Museum RSVP>>>>  ___________ Amalia Mesa Bains: Amalia Mesa Bains is an artist and cultural critic who has worked to define Chicano and Latino art in the United States and in Latin America. Mesa-Bains is best known for her large-scale installations and interpretations of traditional Chicano altars and ofrendas. Her work explores Mexican American women’s spiritual practices, addresses colonial and imperial histories, the recovery of cultural memory, and their roles in identity formation. She also uses aesthetic strategies as ways to express experiences historically associated with Mexican American women and as sites for Chicana feminist reclamation. Mesa-Bains was born in Santa Clara, CA. Carmen Guerrero: A Brazilian by birth, Carmen Guerrero is a descendant of the Tupinambá tribe from the northern state of Pernambuco. She graduated from the Pernambucano Conservatory of Music (Recife, Brazil) with a degree in Piano Performance. Upon moving to Arizona, Guerrero formed the popular band Zúm Zúm Zúm along with sculptor husband and native Arizonan Zarco Guerrero. She sings and plays guitar and accordion now as part of the Guerrero Family Musicians.    Guerrero is the Arts Education Director at El Rancho del Arte (Mesa) and a teaching artist at area schools.  She co-founded Xicanindio (now Xico, Inc.) in 1975, the Arizona Latino Arts Center in 2007, and the Cultural Coalition, Inc. in 1996. As executive director of the Cultural Coalition, she produces annual community festivals such as Mikiztli, the Día de Los Muertos Phx Festival, The Mask Alive Festival (Mesa), Portal Festival at S’edav Va’aki Museum, and El Puente Festival at Tempe Center for the Arts. Under her leadership, Cultural Coalition has grown to partner with numerous local arts organizations and artists. As an artistic producer, she is committed and dedicated to issues of cultural literacy and social justice.  In 2012, Guerrero received the Patron of the Arts in Education Award from the Victoria Foundation in 2012. Her board service includes Chair of the i.d.e.a. Museum Foundation, Mesa Arts Center Foundation, and the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens, and she is presently Treasurer of the S’edav Va’aki Museum Foundation Board.