America (Soy Yo!) Curated by Ever Velasquez

Charlie James Gallery is pleased to present America (Soy Yo!), a group exhibition curated by Los Angeles artist, curator, and gallery director Ever Velasquez. America (Soy Yo!) brings together artists from across the United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, and Canada who collectively interrogate ideas of forced migration, land ownership, and the man-made borders that separate us. The exhibition highlights the dissonance created when familial histories of land stewardship exist in conflict with bureaucratic divisions of property, questioning who and what constitute belonging, either to a nation or to the land itself. The exhibition’s title is a nod to lyrics from the Los Tigres Del Norte song “América Soy Yo” - a song that celebrates the cultural melting pot of America, one of many that share the stories of immigrants and help to create community through shared experience.

One thread that runs through the exhibition explores the relationship between the land and the body, either through labor or sustenance, and the idea of borders as sites of generational wounds.