Where Are You International

LATINO ARTISTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

For those of us living in Boston’s MetroWest region, it’s a given that for the best pupusas, or to catch a Capoeira practice, a visit to Framingham is a sure bet. The town is a known enclave of Latino businesses, from hole-in-the wall taco stands to Columbian bakeries to Brazilian … everything. But “Latino,” this pan-ethnic label of a population predicted to claim the US majority by 2070, can be hard to pin down.

To help us access the enormity of the Latino identity and the idea of “Latinization” today from an art world stand-point, enter Framingham’s Fountain Street Fine Art (FSFA). This summer, FSFA hosts the New England edition of “We Are You Project International,” a traveling exhibition of 36 contemporary Latino artists and poets with roots in over a dozen Latin American nations.

Launched in 2012 by artist Raúl Villarreal with a show at New York City’s Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House, the We Are You initiative was envisioned as a spotlight on the contributions of U.S.-Latinos within America’s history in the context of socio-political struggles for civil rights, tolerance and freedom. It is the first comprehensive, 21st Century, coast-to-coast exhibition of its kind, as well as the first traveling exhibition hosted by FSFA.

Merideth Cutler