ARTogether

Experience a night of hands-on making and performance curated by ARTogether.

ARTogether is an organization whose mission is to provide art programs that foster compassionate communities where refugees and immigrants can flourish.

On this First Thursday, experience a special edition of their Gather In program, which offers casual, drop-in art making led by artists from their community and space to make connections with others. And watch a showcase of performances including poetry, dance, and more.

Schedule

4–7 p.m. | Gather in – Hands-on Making

Koret Education Center

Vision Books with Sen Mendez

Reflect on your own story and personal connections in this workshop that invites you to create a vision book. Artist Sen Mendez will offer a prompt for you to consider and then, through collage making, share in a customized vision book.

Paper Collage with Kate Goka

Merge different types of paper and mixed media to create a collage. Kate Goka, an artist whose practice includes making paper, invites you to begin by holding and touching various papers, both to observe the paper and think about what you associate with the textures. From there, use this experience as a guide to create a collage with personal meaning.

6 p.m. | Nava Dance Theater

Gina and Stuart Peterson White Box, Floor 4

Experience Nava Dance Theatre, a Bharatanatyam dance company that uses experimental movement and live music to navigate the complicated intersections of racism, feminism, and identity. Tonight, Nadhi Thekkek, Janani Muthaiya, Lalli Venkat, and Akhila Rajesh will share excerpts from Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies an evening-length production examining the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the US after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.

7 p.m. | Chhoti Maa & the Indigo Ensemble

Phyllis Wattis Theater, Floor 1

Join Chhoti Maa & the Indigo Ensemble (Corina Santos, Camellia Boutros, Bri Izaguirre, Caro Acuña Olvera, and Ro Cordova) for a performance drawing from Chhoti Maa’s unique cross-genre music blending what they have called “migrant soul” and “neufolk.”

About the Participants

ARTogether is an Oakland-based nonprofit organization that seeks to strengthen refugee and immigrant communities through the creative arts, support and promote refugee artists, and use community art projects to raise awareness and promote a deeper understanding of refugee and immigrant issues. They envision a world where there are no barriers — or borders — to art and creative expression, where everyone is welcomed and their stories have impact. The ARTogether Center in Downtown Oakland is a community and creative gathering space for the Bay Area that showcases the work of local refugee and immigrant artists through art exhibitions, community art events, and creative gatherings for art and connection.

 
Chhoti Maa is the brainchild of educator and artist Vreni Michelini Castillo, with music based in hip hop, cumbia, migrant soul, neufolk, and R&B. Hailing from Guanajuato, Mexico, Vreni is a multidisciplinary cultural producer and curator who co-edited the 2019 book Color Theory and created Fluid Mutualism.

Kate Goka is an artist living in Brisbane, California. A long-time educator, she has worked as a teacher, small school founder, administrator, and new teacher coach. In both abstract and representational work, Kate uses layers of drawing, painting, collage, and burning to engage with the world in all its truth and complexity.

Based in San Francisco, Nava Dance Theatre, currently under the artistic direction of Dr. Nadhi Thekkek, explores the art form of Bharatanatyam dance and shares the power of dance, music, and storytelling throughout the diaspora and beyond. Past work has delved into unheard refugee voices, the #metoo movement, and other social justice issues. They explore contemporary history, witness statements, interviews, documentaries, and news reports — all with the goal of using Bharatanatyam movement vocabulary to serve urgent community narratives.

Sen Mendez (they/them), also known as Queen Sen, is a non-binary, Indigenous (Otomí and Nahua-Pipil) interdisciplinary artist, cultural practitioner, entrepreneur, and educator deeply rooted and born in the Huichin Ohlone Territory/Oakland, California.

Their work addresses themes of decolonization, ancestry, migration, gender justice, disability justice, and mental health.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility accommodations such as American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and assisted listening devices are available upon request 10 business days in advance.

Please email publicengagement@sfmoma.org, and we will do our best to fulfill your request.
 

Programming for Ruth Asawa: Retrospective is made possible with support from Google.org.