By/Por Leah Bergman

“It took ten years to compile all of the pieces for the exhibition,” explains Ilona Katzew, Department Head of Latin American Art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).  Katzew is speaking of the current exhibit entitled: Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World. “It combines artwork from Mexico and Peru, and is the only exhibition of its kind.” She smiles warmly and her passion becomes contagious, “I wanted to show how sophisticated they were.”

Walking through the gallery, the voices of the indigenous are echoed through the halls. The pieces span from ceramics and textiles to elaborately painted history books and stunning folding screens. A seven year old child stands transfixed in front of one of the paintings. Upon following his gaze, one encounters a haunting scene of a woman entangled by two demons entitled: Allegory of the Confession of the Soul and Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, an 18^th century Mexican piece.

Katzew wanted to explore the exhibition themes further, so this weekend she teamed up with Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival’s (LALIFF) founder Edward James Olmos (actor, director, and producer) and festival co-director Marlena Dermer to produce a two day film event. The event consisted of seven films over the course of two days. Katzew said she wanted to invite the film makers because “these topics are not dead, and I wanted to give them a voice.”  Dermer said, “I was so honored that we were asked to participate.”

The event included Claudia Llosa’s film La Teta Asustada {The Milk of Sorrow}, nominated for the 82^nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, a chilling account of how the main character, Fausta, is suffering from a rare disease which is being transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women. These pregnant women were victims of abuse or rape during Peru’s history of terrorism.  Llosa said, “I wanted to make this film because we need to talk about how to live with all the sorrow and pain.  It is so hard to think and say aloud.”

Another film, Teshuinada, Semana Santa Tarahumara, {Teshuninada, Holy Week at the Tarahumara} was an exploration by Nicolas Echevarria on the rituals of the Tarahumara, who once lived in the mountains of Chihuahua and Durango in Mexico. He comments, “I did many documentaries about rituals and it only seems natural that I would make my first feature film, which is fiction, about the same thing.” He also expresses his dismay that “the indigenous cultures are becoming extinct.”

The documentary, La Pequena Semilla en el Asfalto {The Little Seed in the Asphalt}, was the first film produced by Pedro Daniel Lopez, a Chiapas indigenous Mayan. He said, “I started making the film after the uprising in the region. I wanted to give a different idea on what has been told. I wanted it to be the indigenous point of view.” By producing this movie, he wanted to show that the indigenous people can be professional and artists.  He said, “No somos un pedazo de un museo.” {We are not pieces in a museum.}

The exhibition and film event sang in unison the stories of the Peruvian and Mexican people giving voice to their stories and not letting the past be forgotten.  Telling the world, “No somos un pedazo de un museo.”

The LACMA exhibition will be until Sunday, January 29.