Reading at UCSD!

Photo by Tom McGovern

6:30-8:00 pm April 28, 2015
Visual Arts @ the Structural Engineering Building, 204
Juan Delgado, Manuel Paul López and Thomas McGovern

Join us for an evening of discussion and exploration into the sites of transition for Mexican-Americans through poetry and art. Juan Delgado and Thomas McGovern will read and present from their book Vital Signs (2013), a collaborative book about San Bernadino, which was awarded the American Book Award. Manuel Paul López will read from and discuss his recent work and his book The Yearning Feed (2013), winner of the Ernest Sandeen Prize for Poetry. A panel discussion about border politics and culture will follow. 

Vital Signs pairs Juan Delgado's honest and unflinching images of the realities of urban life with Thomas McGovern's documentary photography of the hand-painted signs and murals found in San Bernardino. This compilation illustrates a compelling portrait of the realities of every day Mexican-American lives, such as violence, poverty and also perseverance, religion and hope.

Manuel Paul López's The Yearning Feed deals with the metaphors, contradictions and ironies that play out in the magical area of the border. López deals critically with the geographical, literary and cultural clashes present in today's border society.

Following the readings will be a panel discussion lead by Professor Lisa Cartwright on border politics and culture as well as sites of transition and cultural negotiation. After the panel discussion, questions will be taken from the audience about the artists' projects or the larger ideas present in their works. To conclude there will be a reception with light refreshments.

Images © 2015 Thomas McGovern. All Rights Reserved.