On Oct. 2, “Madre_Land: South Texas Memory and the Art of Making Home” opened its doors at the Centro de Artes gallery. Tejana teacher, scholar and part-time DJ Bonnie Cisneros curated the exhibition, open until February, that brings together multimedia works from 27 artists across the South Texas region.
According to the exhibit description, “Madre_Land” transformed the Mexican-American idiom “mi casa es su casa,” or “my house is your house,” into a curatorial ethos and an invitation to reimagine the South Texas home. The exhibit included ofrenda installations, full-scale recreations of historic Tejane spaces in town and nods to the eclectic “rasquachismo” style, a working-class Chicane art form, Cisneros arranged into a lived-in tribute to Chicane memory.
Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, professor of modern languages and literatures, has written extensively on the Chicane relationship with “madre-lands,” whether that’s Texas, Mexico or elsewhere. She said that the exhibit is an achievement for Latine representation in local artistic institutions.
“It is amazing to have a space like this for so many months, to have as many people visit as possible,” Urquijo-Ruiz said. “It’s great that the Centro de Artes is an ambassador for tourists who might come in and be motivated to explore more.”
Urquijo-Ruiz said the exhibit has personal-political significance, represented in the Latine cultural artefacts on display, from lotería card paintings to pan dulce sculptures. To her, “Madre_Land” is a protest against the misrepresentation and demonization that Latine communities increasingly endure.
“Pan dulce represents this huge thing from my personal life, so when I see it represented at a museum or when I see it at an exhibit, it brings me so much joy,” Urquijo-Ruiz said. “To be able to have your culture validated in public matters because you see yourself represented outside of your home, and you see your culture as something valuable.”
Among the featured artists is Maria Jessica Brown. While she recently became a full-time artist, various local initiatives, such as Centro’s “Art Everywhere” and The Contemporary at Blue Star, have featured her work.
“Some of my work is actually found objects, which is part of the aesthetic of the show. Rasquache is utilizing what you have in your art as a form of resistance,” Brown said. “I made curtains out of canvas, and I made the ruffles of the curtains out of these beautiful corn husks.”
Cisneros arranged the exhibit into a home, where artists contributed to designated “rooms.” Brown was one of the artists involved in the “cocina,” creating seven pieces inspired by her dynamic relationship with the kitchen.
“I took the experience of cultivating love and creativity in the kitchen and made it a surrealist dreamscape, because often I feel that many women, even if they aren’t visual artists, we find ourselves daydreaming in the kitchen,” Brown said. “We’re healers, we’re creators, we’re artists, and from the kitchen, we make this magic that is love, that is nourishment, that is culture.”
Brownville native Marcelina Gonzales also contributed to the “cocina” of “Madre_Land.” Gonzales is a resin collage artist and created 13 multimedia works for the exhibit inspired by her memories of the Rio Grande Valley.
“It’s quite intimate, because my process is looking through old photographs and triggering some kind of memory,” Gonzales said. “Memories are kind of fragmented, so that opens a dialogue with my family, and then with these fragmented memories, I create an image that maybe is a little more playful.”
Gonzales’s work, like Brown’s, draws on conventionally contrasting ideas of domestic memory and cultural resistance. Gonzales said that as a part of her message, she leans into whimsical, even humorous, elements of her memory.
“I grew up in the ‘90s, so it was very pastel, blues and yellows, very colorful. Now, especially down here [in Brownsville], all those colors are being erased by the grayness and modernity of SpaceX,” Gonzales said. “So I really held onto the colors of the photographs and turned up the saturation. I wanted the piece to be very fun.”
Chuco Garcia, local DJ and filmmaker, attended the exhibit opening on Oct. 2. Garcia is also a board member of West Side Sound, an ongoing archival project, and said that he appreciated the archival aspects of the exhibit, especially the full-scale recreation of the historic Guadalupanita Café.
“You see in their installations, especially the Guadalupe Café. It’s so cool that they have the actual booth, they have the register,” Garcia said. “Not just that installation, the other installations as well. People archive stuff. I love that part of the exhibit, because that’s what I do.”
Peyton Rudd, archives intern with ArtPace, is connected to the San Antonio art scene. Rudd recently took a class on “hauntology,” or the idea that the past “haunts” the present. They said that the persistence of memories throughout the exhibit reminded them of this concept.
“The interconnectedness between past, present and future — how it impacts us, and how we move forward — plays into what we create so much,” Rudd said. “Especially in San Antonio, a majority minority city, that culture is so big here, so even though each artist has an individual experience that led them to make this artwork, it is understandable by everyone because memory, while being personal, has this universal component.”
“Madre_Land” will be on display at Centro de Artes, along with another exhibit, “Cuentos y Artes,” until Feb. 22, 2026. Attendance is free, and more information can be found on the City of San Antonio website.
