News & Updates

First Friday May 5th, from 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Run of show: May 5^th – June 24^th

Mattie Rhodes Cultural Arts Center

1701 Jarboe St, Kansas City, MO 64108

About the Chicano Exhibit

“Chicano – Orgullo/Pride” explores the intersection of Chicanx art through the theme of orgullo and pride. Pride is a sentiment that propels the Chicano/a narrative, identity, and the Chicano movement. This exhibit brings together many themes including cultural identity, community, activism, and ancestral ties thought the lens of pride. This exhibit aims to celebrate the diverse and individual interpretations of Chicano/a/x pride and all the themes tied to it. What does Chicanx Orgullo / Pride, look like to you?

The Chicano Exhibit is the second largest exhibit at Mattie Rhodes, next to Day of the Dead and has been showcased for more than 20 years. This exhibit highlights Chicano history both locally and nationally and looks towards celebrating this movement while inspiring visitors and supporting local Chicano artists.

Featured Artist

Baldemar Rivas is an artist who specializes in sequential storytelling through illustration. His style is an amalgamation of eastern and western comics. He carries a sketchbook everywhere and you can catch him doodling out in the wild 

Baldemar was born and raised in California, where he spent most of his days drawing.

About the Chicano Movement

The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican descent, especially of Pachucos in the 1940s and 1950sthat worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation.

The Chicano movement advocated for social and political empowerment through culture, identity, nationalism, labor rights, land reclamation, education, and art. Through this the Chicano/a term became a reclaimed term to express political autonomy, ethnic and cultural solidarity, and pride in being of indigenous descent.

The Chicano movement has cultivated growth and has continued to empower many generations to embrace their shared cultures and roots under the inspiration of the movement.

Check out photos from 2022:

Further Reading on Local Chicano Kansas City History:

https://www.kansascity.com/news/your-kcq/article268242572.html

https://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/1999autumn_ortiz.pdf

The Chicano Movement in Kansas City – LatinxKC (umkc.edu)