Works from more than 60 artists and a rare mask collection from the Federation of Michoacan Clubs In Illinois will be featured during a new exhibit to be unveiled Friday by the city of Aurora’s Public Art Division.
The exhibit, called “Masks: Identity In Diversity,” will run through Nov. 1 at the Aurora Public Art gallery in the David L. Pierce Art and History Center at 20 E. Downer Place. The public is invited to attend the free opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday.
The exhibition is structured around three components, including the Binational Print Collection, which showcases original works created by 60 artists from both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border, according to a press release from the city of Aurora.
The prints from the collection examine how masks function as tools of transformation – concealing to reveal, blurring individual identity to highlight the collective and creating visual dialogues around migration, belonging and contemporary social realities, the release said.
The Federation of Michoacan Clubs Mask Collection will also be on hand, incorporating historic, physical traditional masks from Michoacan, part of a collection of over 200 traditional Mexican masks recently donated to the group by collectors, according to the release.
The gallery’s inner space will also feature a dedicated installation honoring the tradition of the ofrenda, organizers said. This space will continuously be built out over the course of the exhibition, culminating in a closing ceremony during Day of the Dead weekend on Nov. 1, according to the release.
Local artist Carlos Martinez Fernandez, a Morelia, Michoacan-born artist and student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is set to provide a local perspective to the exhibit, displaying multiple paintings on drywall honoring his Michoacan roots and the migrant experience, organizers said.
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