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Carlos Francisco Jackson Featured in "Radical Histories: Chicanx Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum"

February 13, 2025
Carlos Francisco Jackson, Huelga, 2009, screenprint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Drs. Harriett and Ricardo Romo, 2019.50.4, © 2009, Carlos Francisco Jackson
Carlos Francisco Jackson, Huelga, 2009, screenprint on paper, image: 25 3/8 × 39 1/2 in. (64.5 × 100.3 cm) sheet: 30 1/2 in. × 44 in. (77.5 × 111.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Drs. Harriett and Ricardo Romo, 2019.50.4, © 2009, Carlos Francisco Jackson 

Work by Stamps Dean and Professor Carlos Francisco Jackson is featured in Radical Histories: Chicanx Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a new exhibition that concentrates on Chicanx artists’ efforts to assert multiple views of American history. Organized by Claudia Zapata, the exhibition features works by more than 40 artists and collectives from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection of Latinx art.

Radical Histories is on view through June 8 at the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, ME, and will open on November 16 at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. 

Artists featured in Radical Histories created graphic counter-histories — from ancient to contemporary times — posing questions regarding American identity, sexuality, race and ethnicity, and borders. These Chicanx printmakers educated and agitated the public by presenting political and social themes as declarations of political advocacy and manifestations of cross-cultural solidarity. They also used political graphics to galvanize community support around issues of labor equality, supporting the farm workers’ movements of California and Texas by creating vivid images informed by satire, Pop Art, and Conceptualism. Moreover, they drew upon established traditions such as Mexican codices, reimagined popular calendar formats, and produced elaborate multilingual event posters to promote political action and heighten awareness of anti-war and pro-peace movements. Recurring subjects include immigration and the borderlands.
The exhibition also explores commemorative portraiture. Using photographs as references, Chicanx artists resurrected and memorialized unknown and underrepresented artists and historical figures, offering overdue recognition to many individuals of color for their important contributions to society. Highlighting the importance of language in Chicanx graphics, Radical Histories also examines the interplay between text and image, the artistic deployment of poetry, graffiti, and historical quotations, among other literary devices, to communicate with the public.

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