Lux Art Institute announces artists for upcoming season

Examining the topic of migration, the Lux Art Institute in Encinitas announced the lineup of artists to be featured for its 14th season during a livestream on Zoom and Facebook May 28.

“We will be unified under one theme across our whole campus,” Guusje Sanders, the institute’s associate curator, said during the livestream. “Our resident artists, our regional artists will be exploring their own unique ideas, concepts and processes within that theme.”

Issues of migration among people around the world have been featured prominently in the news, but the artists and their works will also tackle migration as it pertains to animals and plants.

“What happens when we create boundaries?” Sanders said. “Boundaries and borders exist on many different levels and have continuously moved throughout history. These lines can be physical or nonphysical, man-made or natural.”

According to a Lux Institute news release, some of the questions that go along with this theme are: What happens to the construction of identity in cross-cultural territories? What does “othering” mean to the construction of identity? How do physical and non-physical borderlines influence the movement of people, flora, and fauna? What social-political-economic systems influence the lived experiences of migrating people?

The artists-in-residence for the upcoming season include Cosmo Whyte, who still lives in his native Jamaica and in Atlanta. Whyte’s works, which will be on display from Sept. 12 to Nov. 7, explore topics such as assimilation.

Carlos Martiel, a Cuban performance artist based in Havana and New York City, calls attention to the restrictions and limitations experienced by black males. His exhibition dates are Nov. 21, 2020 to Jan. 16, 2021.

Beatriz Cortez, born in El Salvador and currently based in Los Angeles, uses sculpture and installation to examine the histories, cultures and other aspects of people who have been subject to forced migration. Her exhibition dates are from Jan. 30 to March 27, 2021.

Regional artists featured in the Lux Institute’s 14th season include Beliz Iristay, who lives in San Diego and Mexico. Born in Turkey, Iristay uses installations to raise questions about social and political platforms, and her work will be featured from Sept. 12 to Oct. 30.

Tarrah Krajnak, an associate art professor at Pitzer College in Claremont and a Los Angeles resident, uses her work to search for her place in the history of her birthplace of Lima, Peru, where she was adopted from an orphanage.

“I’m so excited to welcome them and hear their stories, hear their voices,” Sanders said.

Lux Art Institute is located at 1550 S. El Camino Real in Encinitas. For more information, visit luxartinstitute.org.