• MSJC
• MSJC Art Gallery
• Madre Myths

Madre Myths

Mt. San Jacinto College Art Gallery is pleased to present Dulce Soledad Ibarra: Madre Myths. This is a special solo exhibition debuting a new body of work from one of MSJC’s associate art faculty members. Ibarra’s exhibition presents paintings and drawings in a magical realism style, telling the tale of their late, undocumented aunt and turning these stories into personal mythologies. Ibarra’s work uses materials in a poetic and conceptual way, celebrating the cultural significance of bolsas de mercado–iconic Mexican market bags imported into the United States–by deconstructing them and turning them into canvases and images. This exhibition is hosted in conjunction with our celebration of MSJC’s Latinx Heritage Month and Undocumented Student Week of Action.

Madre Myths delves into the Ibarra family story of their aunt protecting Ibarra’s pet rabbit from a marauding hawk. The hawk had tormented, killed and eaten many of the family’s chickens, leaving only their decapitated heads behind as a taunt to the family. The aunt’s action of protecting the rabbit and the remaining chickens from the hawk by throwing a rock at it and killing it with one strike is a tale of David and Goliath. However, the aunt’s heroic action becomes complicated by her undocumented status and the anxiety that this produces. In Spanish, one of the words for fright is “susto”. Across Latin America, “susto’s” connotation is most associated with "soul loss after a traumatic event". “Susto” is viewed as an illness, with no definite cure.

Ibarra says: “Analyzing the psychological implications of a very specific fright, I am expanding on what it is to live with this fright that was left by my aunt and possibly inherited by me. My aunt felt a sort of discomfort from the retelling of the story after finding out that hawks are highly protected in North America by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Finding out that a hawk had more lawful protection in this continent than herself, she feared the repercussions of her murder of this bird of prey as an undocumented person. My work is expanding on this narrative and others as I navigate through her life, her death, and my perpetual Susto.”

Dulce Soledad Ibarra (they/them/theirs) is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, educator, and curator with investments in community and identity-emphasized arts and opportunity. As a practicing artist, Ibarra discusses issues and narration of generational guilt, identity, class, labor, displacement, and injustice in paintings, drawings, sculptures, videos, installations, performances, and participatory work. Looking through queer Xicanx perspective, the work is fueled by emotional labor, personal and cultural research, and a strong interest in place-making and narrative-building. Much of Ibarra's work centers around the aesthetics and resilience of the Piñata/Party Supply District of Downtown Los Angeles, engaging in the means of sustaining as a community of businesses and as a place of cultural familiarities and commodities. Ibarra has exhibited, screened, performed, and programmed at venues across Southern California and beyond, including Angels Gate Cultural Center, Charlie James Gallery, Consulado General de México en Los Ángeles, Craft Contemporary, Echo Park Film Center, Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University, Human Resources Los Angeles, ONE Gallery in West Hollywood, and Pieter Performance Space, among others. Ibarra holds an MFA from the University of Southern California and earned a BFA in Sculpture from California State University, Long Beach.