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SERIES OVERVIEW

Families Belong Together
(2018-present)


Families Belong Together Series is a new collection of work highlighting the recent rise in immigrant children being separated by their families at the border.  Though this issue is nothing new, the sheer rise in migrant children separation and detention reached new levels in 2018.   Work from this series was recently on view at Dream Farm Commons in Oakland, the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology, and The Westin Denver Downtown as part of the 2018 Society for the Study of American Women Writers Triennial Conference.

Madonna and Child
(2018-present)


The Madonna and Child Series is another new collection of work, created simultaneously with the Families Belong Together Series, in response to the rising attention descending upon immigrant family separations and the images of children being held in detention centers along the border. These pieces emphasize the horror of seeing children being torn away by their mothers.  Work from this series was recently on view at Dream Farm Commons in Oakland, the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology, and The Westin Denver Downtown as part of the 2018 Society for the Study of American Women Writers Triennial Conference.

Maternidad
(2016-present)


Maternidad came about some time in mid-2016 when friend, former classmate, and fellow Artist, Ann Schnake, approached Anciso about producing work related to childbirth.  Schnake and Anciso collaborated previously on work for the John and Cynthia Miller Wellness Center at the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, CA.  This time, Schnake requested work that would fit the perinatal (obstetrics and postpartum) ward.  This was timely as Anciso was already a few months pregnant with her first child, unbeknownst to Schnake at the time of the request.  

 

Anciso would create several pieces for the Maternidad series, ranging from stages of childbirth, to post-birth, breastfeeding, as well as images of parenthood and grandparenthood.  One of the pieces, Uníon de Madres (2016), was completed less than two weeks before Natalia gave birth to her son, Leonardo.

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Work in the Maternidad series is part of the Permanent Collection of the Labor and Delivery and Postpartum Wards at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, CA.  Pieces of Maternidad were recently on loan and on view at Natalia Anciso: ASPIRE | ASPIRAR at O'Kane Gallery of the University of Houston-Downtown and at NATALIA ANCISO: They Try to Bury Us at the Joseph Gross Gallery at the University of Arizona (Tucson).  The latest work of the series, Sobrevivir (Land of the Free)  (2018) was on view at INTO ACTION in Los Angeles, Diffused Reflections at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco, and Radical Departures, Abruptions, and Continuations at Dream Farm Commons in Oakland.  Work from this series was most recently on view at the El Corazon exhibition at the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology and the Radical Anachronisms group exhibition at The Westin Denver Downtown as part of the 2018 Society for the Study of American Women Writers Triennial Conference.  The series is still ongoing.

School
(2014-present)


School is a series of vignettes focused primarily around Anciso's work as an urban educator in the Bay Area, and is a product of extensive research that Anciso has partaken around elementary genocide, pushout, and the widespread disservice of students of color, especially black boys and girls, from Kindergarten through high school.  Each piece is drawn in some combination of graphite, watercolor, and/or goldleaf.

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Don't Shoot (2014), is the first piece from the then-untitled School series, and made its debut in print as the cover of the human rights education book, Bringing Human Rights Education to US Classrooms: Exemplary Models from Elementary Grades to University by Dr. Susan Roberta Katz and Dr. Andrea McEvoy Spero.  Don't Shoot was on view at the 6th Chicana/o Biennial at MACLA / Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (San Jose).  Work from the School Series was recently on view at NATALIA ANCISO: They Try to Bury Us at the Joseph Gross Gallery at the University of Arizona (Tucson), WE RISE in Los Angeles, and Radical Departures, Abruptions, and Continuations at Dream Farm Commons in Oakland. Other work  from this series is currently on view at the El Corazon exhibition at the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology.

 

The Time for Action is Now (2018) was selected for inclusion with the POWER TO THE POLLS campaign and traveling art exhibition in collaboration with Women's March and The Amplifier Foundation, and is available for high-resolution download via Amplifier. The series is still ongoing.

Flora and Fauna 
(2013)


Flora and Fauna is a series of visual narratives  focusing on events occurring in and around the Borderlands.  Each piece is drawn on graphite and colored pencil, and showcases flowers indigenous to the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas and Northern Mexico.

 

Flora and Fauna made its debut in the solo exhibition titled, Studio 24 Presents: Natalia Anciso, at Galeria de la Raza in San Francisco. Civil (2013) was on view at the States of Mind online exhibition, a project by Berlin-based Refrakt and Tony Grayson.  The entire series was recently on view at the Spanish Market Group Show, a two-person show with artist, Andrea Vargas, at Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, NM and at Natalia Anciso: ASPIRE | ASPIRAR at the O'Kane Gallery of the University of Houston-Downtown. 

Smile
(2011-Present)


The Smile Series is an ongoing study on issues surrounding the rigors of immigration, both in the process, and as a product and result.  Smile has gone through numerous iterations, ranging from panos (handkerchiefs) to drawn, painted, and embroidered cloth stretched on wooden embroidery hoops.

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Smile has  been showcased in various combinations and venues.  Notable venues that the Smile Series has shown in include Galeria de la Raza (San Francisco), MACLA / Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (San Jose), the San Jose Museum of Art, University Galleries at the Ben Shahn Center for Visual Arts, William Paterson University (Wayne, NJ), the Vincent Price Art Museum (Los Angeles), The Hokin Gallery at Columbia College Chicago, and Studios on the Park in Paso Robles, CA.  Pieces from Smile were recently on view for Natalia Anciso: ASPIRE | ASPIRAR at the O'Kane Gallery of the University of Houston-Downtown and the Radical Anachronisms group exhibition at The Westin Denver Downtown as part of the 2018 Society for the Study of American Women Writers Triennial Conference.

Pinches Rinches 
(2011-2015)


Pinches Rinches looks at the suppressed historical events surrounding the executions and lynchings of Mexicans and Tejanos by Texas Rangers along the Texas Borderlands, post-Texas Revolution.  This series was informed by research from both historical accounts of these atrocities, as well as passed-down legends and family histories.

 

Pinches Rinches made its debut at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (San Francisco), has gone on to show at Galeria de la Raza (San Francisco), Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (San Francisco), the Asian Resource Gallery (Oakland), the Mexic-Arte Museum (Austin), and the Smithsonian Affiliate museum of the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for the Arts and Crafts (with Craft in America) (Alta Loma, CA).  The series was most recently on view for NATALIA ANCISO: They Try to Bury Us at the Joseph Gross Gallery of the University of Arizona (Tucson).  

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Pinches Rinches was referenced by Dr. Iain Robertson, Head of Art Business Studies at Sotheby's Institute of Art, in his book, New Art, New Markets.

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