Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, Chicano Movement Leader, founder of the Crusade for Justice, and Poet once wrote: I am the masses of my people and I refuse to be absorbed. I am Joaquín. The odds are great, But my spirit is strong, My faith unbreakable, My blood is pure. These words are ever present in the Cheech and MexiCali Biennial, “Land of Milk & Honey.” With works by over 40 artists, the exhibition, organized by Ed Gómez, Luis G. Hernández, Rosalía Romero, and April Lillard-Gómez, deconstructs perceptions of California being that place of opportunity where one can have a better way of life. These artists, wounded with the blessing to create, access their inner most visceral aesthetic language and speak to themes of agriculture in California and Mexico in a vein similar to John Steinbeck’s interpretation of the region as amoral and untrustworthy. The folk included in the exhibition are unafraid to choose from the menu of creative expressionistic modes and interrogate unapologetically, while also inviting dialogue about injustice.
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