MUTABLE LAND

Muta­ble Land, fea­tur­ing works by Fer­nan­do Andrade, Richard Armen­dariz, Joe Har­jo, Mari Her­nan­dez, Ethel Ship­ton, Jose Vil­lalo­bos and Anne Wal­lace, explores ​“Texas” land: how humans change land and the peo­ple liv­ing on it, focus­ing on shift­ing bor­ders, col­o­niza­tion, migra­tion, mil­i­ta­riza­tion, gen­der and tradition. 

The exhibition was situated in 1930s former military housing on Governor's Island, an island possessing a multi-national history as a military center stretching continuously back from the 1960s to its 17th century seizure from the Lenape by the Dutch West India Company.

Like Gov­er­nors Island, South Texas car­ries sto­ried, mil­i­ta­rized his­to­ries fea­tur­ing shift­ing casts of nations vying for con­trol, wag­ing war and redraw­ing lines on land regard­less of peo­ple liv­ing on it. 

Exhib­it­ed artists probe expe­ri­ences of exis­tence in such con­test­ed space, weaving together his­to­ry and today, from the bat­tle of the Alamo and forced Indige­nous assim­i­la­tion to con­tem­po­rary migra­tion expe­ri­ences and queer life in bor­der towns. They highlight the histories, spaces, and documents of the changes to control of the land itself, exploring profit and harm; They navigate the experience of movement across South Texas and the U.S.-Mexican border; they examine how existence on such contested land affects generational transformation and contemporary experiences of the people themselves. 

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View a full exhibition brochure and artwork list, and press in ArtNet and the San Antonio Current.