Description

The Project:
The Rhizomes Project was brought to the attention of the AAP through a presentation by Karen Mary Davalos at the 2018 AHAA conference. Davalos made a compelling argument regarding the invisibility of collections of Mexican American art owing to the inadequacies both of digital resources for the field and of the terminology employed in general digital art resources and catalogues. In exploring potential ways forward for AAP support of this emerging but ambitious project, the co-PIs outlined the pressing need for two convenings that could substantively launch the work. The two convenings, described in great detail in the proposal, would undertake the necessary preliminary steps of strategizing digitization for small institutions with significant holdings, and developing an authority system for more effective digital object records for Mexican American art throughout the museum field. The Rhizomes project as a whole is a vast one, but its promise is significant, with nothing less than a full documentary record of Mexican American art as its aim.
 
Rationale for Funding:
The study of Chicano art is burgeoning sector of the field, with increasing numbers of doctoral students and curatorial appointments within this specialization. Paradoxically, while digitization has created access for masses of collection material, blind spots in its systems of terminology have rendered certain bodies of objects less accessible than when direct contact was made with a knowledgeable specialist at an institution. A new generation of researchers is more likely to assume objects do not exist if they are not digitally available. The Rhizomes projects seeks to create a transformative digital resource that brings to light previously undigitized as well as inadequately catalogued works of Mexican American art. The strength of the project and of this proposed first step lies in the expertise of the project leaders and their efforts to date to develop productive relationships with partners who can enhance the feasibility and longevity of the project. While the AAP does not usually undertake grants for digital projects unconnected to specific collections, this one is entirely collection-focused. The program’s involvement at this early stage in a very targeted way can insure the project’s early progress. The convenings are carefully planned and strategized, and should have productive, targeted outcomes.
 
As with the AAP’s increasingly vigorous work in the Native American field, projects related to Chicano art can significantly diversify our focus in productive ways. This very holistic project, with the capacity to fundamentally change our understanding of Mexican American art, certainly holds the additional promise of leading to additional new conversations in the field.