Many Latin American communities celebrate a girl’s fifteenth birthday with a party called a quinceañera. Traditionally, a girl’s father joins her on the dance floor for a special waltz, just the two of them. One family portrayed in this show transformed this tradition when the mother invited all her friends to dance with their daughters. Their faces gleamed with tenderness and pride. All of a sudden, each mother-daughter pair whirled and began exchanging their daughters, spinning through the space as they danced in new constellations, always shining with the same joy.
As the artist became a mother in a new country herself, she got to know mothers in
the area, who are not only pillars of their nuclear families, but also of their communities.
Building on deep friendships, these mothers created a strong support network that
continues to expand and strengthen in the form of the non-profit Latinas 413, which highlights Latinas’ growing role in the Berkshires’ landscape.
Mothering in Migration is part of an ongoing collaboration between Folegatti and Latinas413 that aims to strengthen local support for immigrant mothers. Through photography sessions, interviews, and workshops, the families and the artist worked around their connection to the landscape, the support network built between the households, and the strategies to move each other forward created in the intimacy of the mother-daughter relationship.
The show is curated by Carolina Porras-Monroy as part of Gallery 51’s summer series about migration.
Materialscape introduces the work of three visual artists—Marissa Baez (Mexican American), Delaney Keshena (Menominee), and Mikayla Patton (Oglala Lakota), each distinctively exploring the intersection of materiality and land. Their intentional use of material is deeply rooted in their cultural and personal journeys, manifesting either as a form of reclaiming or as a continuation. Ash, beeswax, metal, porcupine quills, paper, animal hide, and plants are not merely mediums but pivotal elements central to their expressive practices. By employing both natural and synthetic materials, the artists collectively share stories, memories, and histories that powerfully reflect on the contemporary Indigenous experience.
Through diligent research and the embrace of communal knowledge, these artists delve into the complexities of identity, resistance, and resilience. Their works act as a dynamic exploration of the interplay between culture, environment, and personal narrative, illustrating how deeply embedded materials can convey profound thematic inquiries. As they navigate through themes of dispossession and regeneration, their artworks resonate as potent symbols of cultural reclamation and personal revelation, offering insights into both shared and unique paths of Indigenous persistence and creativity.
Enduring, 2023, Handmade paper, porcupine quills, deer leather lace, and ash
MIkayla Patton
All exhibitions and events are open to the MCLA community and the general public.
