Come hear the artist talk about Contemporary Casta Portraiture: Nuestra "Calidad." The Silver City Museum will host the New Mexico debut of the exhibition Contemporary Casta Portraiture: Nuestra "Calidad," by Delilah Montoya. The exhibition will open at 4 p.m. on Friday, June 15, 2018 and be on view until September 30, 2018.The first look at the exhibition will be a special opening reception on Friday, June 15, 2018, from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., to which the public is invited. Admission is free; donations greatly appreciated.
Nuestra "Calidad" is born out of research and interest in the racial categorizing as expressed in the Colonial Casta Painting that originated in New Spain. Montoya's photographic portraits and accompanying DNA analysis provide insights for both sitter and viewer on the instability of identity and the means through which we are inclined to construct our own histories.
Born in Texas and raised in the Midwest, artist Delilah Montoya's longtime place of residence is New Mexico, the ancestral home of her mother's family. Her work is grounded in the mestizo/a experience of the Southwest and borderlands, bringing together a multiplicity of syncretic forms and practices from those of Aztec Mexico and Spain, to cross-bordered vernacular traditions, all of which are inflected by contemporary Native American and Anglo American customs and values. Her artistic home is the cacophony of the contemporary Chicano/a – Mexicano/a – Hispano/a experience in New Mexico.
As a photographic printmaker, who has experimented with most print processes from the collotype to digital imaging and video production, Montoya consistently pushes the boundaries of what is technically possible and conceptually challenging. Her work explores the unusual relationships that result from negotiating different ways of viewing, conceptualizing, representing, and consuming the worlds found in the Southwest from her own perspective as a feminist Chicana artist from a matriarchal family. It is about syncretism, ancient and ongoing mestizaje. She purposefully positions her work as an alternative to the mainstream, as a catalyst for issues of cultural identity.
The exhibition Contemporary Casta Portraiture: Nuestra "Calidad," features a companion catalog published by Arte Publico Press that includes the portraits and an essay by Delilah Montoya, Professor of Photography and Digital Media, School of the Art, University of Houston, "An Artistic Biography," by Holly Barnet-Sanchez, Associate Professor Emerita Modern Latin American, Chicano/a, and Latino/a Art History Department of Art and Art History, University of New Mexico, The "(E)Quality of Nuestra 'Calidad'" by SurpikAngeliniTransart Director and "Restaging Casta and Demystifying Genetics in Delilah Montoya's Nuestra 'Calidad'" by Mia Lopez Assistant Curator at DePaul Art Museum, DePaul University, Chicago. Catalog available for purchase in the Silver City Museum Society Store.
The Silver City Museum creates opportunities for residents and visitors to explore, understand, and celebrate the rich and diverse cultural heritage of southwestern New Mexico by collecting, preserving, researching, and interpreting the region's unique history. Admission is free; suggested donation $5. For more information, please contact the museum at (575) 538-5921,
