Art, tacos and farming

Photo: KAG

With a bounty of fresh fruit offered at local markets and stands across the Okanagan this time of year, have you ever stopped to consider how it all gets there?
 
A new exhibition at Kelowna Art Gallery focuses on the 2,000 temporary agricultural workers from Mexico hired each year at Okanagan orchards, vineyards and plant nurseries.

The installation is entitled Deborah Koenker: Grapes and Tortillas. It is intended by the artist as a tribute to and a celebration of the hard work and personal sacrifices of migrant workers.
 
Visitors can explore 160 photographic portraits of the men and women, as well as a giant curtain made from orchard netting threaded with 2,000 coloured ribbons – a visual reference to Mexican shrines and acknowledgement of the number of workers here. In addition, there is a nod to a Mexican kitchen that also serves to convey the story of Doña Vicky, an activist from Oaxaca.

Viewers will see a shrine-like area, centred on an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico.

Additionally, there is an 80-foot long Tortilla Wall comprised of photographs and strung with barbed wire, which is accompanied by quotations from a poem called 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border by Juan Felipe Herrera, the current U.S. poet laureate.

The artist hopes to give viewers some sense of the issues around the situation of these workers as well as a taste of the culture of Mexico.
 
To complement the exhibition, a Fiesta Mexicana has been scheduled for Aug. 18, from 7 to 9 p.m. The public is invited for an evening of celebration with Sandy Diaz Hart, activist and co-founder of the El Faro Society (For Agricultural Workers in the Okanagan), along with some of the workers. Learn more about the life of temporary agricultural workers in the Okanagan while enjoying authentic Mexican cuisine and music.
 
The exhibition will be on view until Oct. 30.