LATINX IN RURAL MIDWEST - An Exhibit of works by Xavier tavera

Studio 213- Saint Paul / Studio 110 - Crookston / circa 2021

Latin people are not extraneous to rural environment. For centuries Latinx have planted, cultivated and worked the US land. Latinos/Latinas represent a significant growing segment of the nation’s rural population.

The land connection within the Latinx community is millenary. Most Latinx immigrants maintain an intimate relationship with their countries of origin, this relationship is complex, and it is passed from generation to generation.

The territories from Mexico, Texas or California to the Midwest has been traveled by land, back and forward, every season, every agricultural cycle, sometimes many times in one year. Latinx people have work the land for generations; we know the terrain and the landscape well. Although newer generations don’t work in agriculture, our attachment to the land has prevailed and the stories of those travels are still remembered and passed along as resilience tales of proud heritage. The Latinx community in the Midwest accounts for a small population in the past the population has been migrant or seasonal but now the Latinx population has found their home in the rural Midwest. My work focuses specifically on Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

The meaning of rooting in Latinx life is often complex. As immigrants we have been uprooted and replanted from different lands. Despite the circumstances, Latinx people also transplant culture to new places. In my recent photographic work, I have documented the transplantation and flourishment of specific Mexican cultural activities, from Charreria to organic farming.

The project has been an ongoing series. With the help from St Paul and Minnesota Foundation I have been able to devote time and resources to research and photograph this specific demography that although essential for the US economy, remains overlooked and ignored by the mainstream community.

Xavier Tavera 2021

Art in This Present Moment is an initiative of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, with funding from the McKnight Foundation, that provides support to artists who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who are changing and challenging dominant narratives through their craft. In Progress selected Xavier Tavera as a presenting artist for this program.  Tavera has been an active artist, exhibitor and mentor for our organization since 2000, working with developing artists both in the Twin Cities and in the rural northwest.    We gratefully acknowledge the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation and the McKnight Foundation for providing our organization the opportunity to spotlight his artistry and efforts to honor Latinx throughout our region.