AMES, Iowa – Artist and cultural organizer Favianna Rodriguez is on a mission to create profound and lasting social change. And during a talk at Iowa State University, she will discuss how artists are advancing the issue of immigration and equality.
Rodriguez's presentation, "How Artists are Transforming the Narrative on Immigration and Equality," will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, in the MU Sun Room. It is part of the Latino Heritage Month Celebration, and is free and open to the public.
Known for her vibrant posters dealing with issues such as war, immigration, globalization and social movements, Rodriguez, of Oakland, Calif., describes herself as "an artist, agitator and techie working for social change." She directs CultureStrike, a national arts organization that engages artists, writers and performers in migrant rights. In 2009, she helped found Presente.org, a national, online organizing network dedicated to the political empowerment of Latino communities. Rodriguez also promotes the use of art in civic engagement and leads art workshops at schools around the country.
Rodriguez co-founded a printing studio to foster resurgence in the screen-printing medium, a bilingual design studio to help integrate art with emerging technologies and two programs dedicated to training young artists in the tradition of muralism.
Rodriguez is co-editor of "Reproduce and Revolt!" with internationally renowned stencil artist and art critic Josh MacPhee. The 200-page book contains more than 600 bold, high-quality black and white illustrations for royalty-free creative use.
Rodriguez has exhibited at museums in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Austin, Texas, in the U.S.; and internationally in Italy, Japan, England, Belgium and Mexico. Her artwork also appears in the books "The Design of Dissent," "Peace Signs: The Anti-War Movement Illustrated" and "The Triumph of Our Communities: Four Decades of Mexican Art." Rodriguez was a 2005 artist-in-residence at San Francisco's de Young Museum, a 2007-2008 artist-in-residence at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, Calif., and received a 2006 Sea Change Residency from the Gaea Foundation, Provincetown, Mass. Rodriguez won a 2005 award from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics.
Rodriguez's presentation is co-sponsored by the Latino Heritage Month Planning Committee, the colleges of Design and Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Multicultural Student Programming Advisory Council, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by the Government of the Student Body.
More information on ISU lectures is available at http://www.lectures.iastate.edu, or by calling 515-294-9935.
