On Friday, the Asheville Art Museum hosts the first of a four-part series – “What Can Become of Us?” – which includes an exhibition and discussion on self-reflection, migration, and community in both English and Spanish.
This national series is co-presented by the Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies, Zócalo Public Square and the Asheville Art Museum.
The centerpiece is a giant black mirror merging Diego Velázquez’s iconic painting Las Meninas and the monumental sculpture of the Mexica deity Coatlicue.
Pedro Lasch, a Mexican-born, North Carolina artist, worked on the centerpiece. He chatted with BPR to talk about the project, Asheville’s role, and more.
The Q&A from BPR reporter and host Jose Sandoval’s interview with Lasch is below, edited for clarity and brevity.
SANDOVAL: What is this and how did it come together?
Lasch: Last year, Stanford University's Institute for Advancing Just Societies and Zócalo Public Square partnered to initiate this national conversation that will last several years.
One of the goals of this series is to really have us come together in a spirit of coexistence and collaboration. To use art and the humanities, but also research centers at universities to help us come together rather than separate and divide.
They set up a national competition where there would be four artists representing each region of the United States. I was selected for the Southern region. Part of the rules is that the work is basically all produced in the South and also first exhibited in the South before it goes to live permanently in California.
SANDOVAL: Why was Asheville chosen as a place to have the inaugural start to this project?
Lasch: We wanted it to be like a world-class museum for sure. The South has a good number of those. We wanted it to be close enough to where I've been living for many years, which is in the Research Triangle, but I have never exhibited in the Asheville Arts Museum, even though I've always loved it as an institution…a beautiful place and then great people.
In addition, we wanted to help with Hurricane Helene. The exhibition that is up on display simultaneously with my show is an exhibition helping and displaying local artists from the Asheville region.
SANDOVAL: This program is inspired by Coatlicue & Las Meninas. Can you explain what the art piece is?
Lasch: It is the size of Velázquez's famous Menina painting. So that is approximately 9 by 10 and a half feet. And so people see themselves reflected inside of the painting. She has a double serpent head and the skull has a belt and serpents in her skirt. So to see this in conjunction with our own reflections and the famous Velasquez painting, of course, creates a very complex image. Every person who is in front of this work sees themselves as part of it and that's intentional.
SANDOVAL: You will also have a live Spanish audio interpretation of the discussion provided. Why is it important to have an interpretation of the discussion in Spanish?
Lasch: There's a long history of Spanish/English bilingualism in our state, in our region, and in the country, which is something we wanna celebrate. There's also people whose Spanish is their first and most comfortable language …When we have an artwork that is so important and has had such a huge impact to the world, I think it's important to recognize that images come in their own language, too.
“What Can Become of Us?” takes place at the Asheville Art Museum on May 2. Tickets are available at https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/
