“Mom, what do you want me to say?!” asked Professor Mario Moreno.
“Give them hope,” his Mother responded.
On Feb. 4, an artist talk was held by Moreno in the Campesino Forum for his twin portraits of the Mexican Revolution freedom fighters Pancho Villa and Adelita alongside the two twin Huehuetl Drums constructed in the Aztec/Nahuatl traditional fashion. The artist talk was held in conjunction with the Art Faculty Exhibition running through Feb. 12 at the L.H. Horton Gallery where Moreno’s work is on display.
“The places I went too, the spirit of resistance, of revolution were every place I went,” said Moreno about his time traveling and learning in Columbia, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama.
A faculty member of 32 years, Moreno has been an active participant of Delta College’s various arts and cultural groups, being an advocate for student voice, Chicano/a arts and student expression.
The two portraits were created as a result of his sabbatical trip where he says “it took on a special importance as things started to happen and as hostilities started to erupt and you began to see these hostilities spill into every living room — it wasn’t something you could dismiss especially if you are being profiled.”
The figures depicted are José Doroteo Arango Arámbula “Pancho Villa” and Adela Velarde Peréz “Adelita,” two Revolutionaries that became symbols and ideas greater than themselves. Moreno used canvas and acrylic paint to create “Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa y Adelita”.
He said that he made them in a similar style to how brands like Coca-Cola make images that are memorable and stick in your head.
The Huehuetl drums are made from the logs of a tree which over the period of several days were sanded and dried in the sun to allow them to bleed out their sap.
“I tried to create the drums in the essence of our ancestors, – and you see that drum is a reminder of that beat, that heartbeat of our people is still there,” Moreno said when asked about what the drums mean.
Moreno’s talk in the Campesino Forum welcomed a nearly full crowd.
“We are from this continent we did not travel through any oceans or any seas; we are from here and so that persecution goes on we have made it through these hundreds of years and we are gonna continue,” said Moreno.
Digital Media Professor Adriana Brogger attended the talk. She noted Moreno’s impact in his time at Delta College in reflection of his upcoming retirement.
“Professor Moreno has represented so much work, when we walk around this campus there are so many things that he has literally touched; I think it’s so important for us to be mindful of the fact that what he’s bringing us is revolution from the historical context, but what I hope people walk away with is the fact that he is a revolutionary, you are a revolutionary, we are revolutionaries,” said Brogger.
