Woshaa’axre Yaang’aro (Looking Back) (detail), 2023, Mercedes Dorame. Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist. © 2023 Mercedes Dorame
Mercedes Dorame on Creation and Collaboration
GETTY CENTER
The Getty Center and Online
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For the inaugural Rotunda Commission, Mercedes Dorame drew upon her Tongva heritage to create her first large-scale installation, titled Woshaa’axre Yaang’aro (Looking Back). Her project invokes the original caretakers and inhabitants of Tovangaar (Los Angeles basin, So. Channel Islands) to, in her words, “immerse the viewer in the realm of abalone, creating a sense of kinship, reciprocity and balance with the natural world.” In this conversation, Dorame joins Richard Rand, associate director of Collections, and Michael Mitchell, head of Preparations, to discuss the collaborative creation and installation of her artwork.
For in-person attendees, the program concludes with a light reception and exhibition viewing at sunset.
About the Artist
Mercedes Dorame calls on her Tongva ancestry to engage the problematics of (in)visibility and ideas of cultural construction. Dorame’s work is in the collections of the Hammer Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Triton Museum of Art, Allen Memorial Art Museum, de Saisset Museum, Montblanc Foundation Collection, and the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum. Her work was in the Hammer Museum’s 2018 Made in LA exhibition and she was recently honored by UCLA as part of their centennial initiative “UCLA: Our Stories Our Impact.” She is currently a visiting faculty member at CalArts.