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The story of the Fonseca-DuBois Gallery starts in September 2023, when Arte Mexicano en Indiana joined the Indianapolis Liberation Center (ILC) as a member-organization. Serving as a base out of which diverse groups, organizations, coalitions, and collectives can work together through cooperation, the ILC was honored to expand our creative endeavors with this significant nonprofit highlighting Mexican art and culture in Indiana.
Working collectively, we launched our “First Fridays” series, titled “Unleashing the Creativity of the Masses,” in November 2023. Our inaugural exhibit featured a curated exhibition of political poster artwork from the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance, Cosecha Indiana, and the Alliance for Immigrant Justice, amplifying the diverse voices united in the struggle for justice in a world divided by imperialism.
A workshop during our inaugural First Friday.
An April 2021 protest where some of the art originated.
An April 2021 protest where some of the art originated.
At the opening of our “Paint it Black” exhibit in February 2024, we unveiled the mural of Shirley Graham Du Bois and the art prints of Black revolutionary heroes produced by the Gallery’s volunteers and friends. The Fonseca-Du Bois art gallery was officially established.
Now that we are in a larger space, we can break through the confines of what can hang on walls, embracing mutlimedia projects, multisensorial experiences, poetry and spoken word, post-studio performances, fashion, music, you name it.
Our slogan remains the same and takes inspiration from, enacts, and demonstrates what Stephen Jay Gould expressed when he wrote in The Panda’s Thumb:
“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
Under this social system, art is a commodity to be bought and sold. At the Fonseca-Du Bois Gallery, art is a tool in our struggle for freedom.
The vast majority of artists are forced to work outside the arts to support themselves and that number skyrockets when we only consider artists of oppressed identities.
The Fonseca-Du Bois Gallery is unique because it showcases artists whose work advances the struggle in the cultural terrain and because every artist or group exhibition includes an opening and closing reception, including talks from the artists as well as the curators, relevant experts and organizers, etc. It is an opportunity for Indianapolis to build a community of cultural resistance without letting the corporations absorb and profit from it.
Interested in getting involved? Fill out the form below!