View of the Rio Grande River from the Boquillas Canyon Trail, near Big Bend National Park along the US/Mexico Border.

REGISTER

The Overlapping Territories Symposium is a program of Overlapping Territories: A Knowledge-Building Research Lab, on view April 1 – April 23. Organized by DiverseWorks Curator, Ashley DeHoyos, the symposium centers on topics such as Indigeneity, settler-colonialism, and migration. Advance registration is required.

All events are at MATCH, 3400 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002.

DOWNLOAD THE OT SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM (PDF)

Schedule 

Friday, April 22, 5:30 – 6:30 PM

Welcome Happy Hour & Overlapping Territories Exhibition Tour with Curator Ashley DeHoyos

Optional (requires a separate ticket):
Friday, April 22, 7 PM
Womb, a project of Body as a Crossroads
A new dance work by Los-Angeles based choreographer Marina Magalhães

Saturday, April 23

9 AM
WELCOME & LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ASHLEY DEHOYOS, Curator, DiverseWorks

9:30 AM
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
NIKESHA BREEZE, interdisciplinary artist (Santa Fe, NM)

Working from a Global African Diasporic, Afro-Centric and Afro-Futurist perspective, Nikesha Breeze’s interdisciplinary work reimagines the possibility of healing intergenerational traumatic inheritance through the intersection of art and ritual.

11 AM
WHY DOES LAND MATTER?
CAROLINA ARANIBAR-FERNANDEZ, visual artist (Phoenix, AZ); JENELLE ESPARZA, interdisciplinary artist, (San Antonio, TX); MATT MANALO, visual artist (Houston, TX). Moderated by MARISSA DEL TORO, independent curator (New Haven, CT)

The panelists will engage in an exploration of how land is used in terms of money, power, and labor, and consider how unceded territories may ultimately be recognized and respected

12:30 – 2 PM: Lunch On Your Own

12:30 PM
OPTIONAL WORKSHOP: TAKE ME HOME
JENAH MARAVILLA, writer and artist (Houston, TX)

This highly interactive, generative workshop utilizes counter-mapping to challenge the notion of spaces we occupy. Maravilla will lead participants through meditations and simple writing prompts. Participants are asked to bring one picture that represents home. No art or writing experience is necessary. Open to all ages.

2 PM
GEOGRAPHIES OF BELONGING: LOCATING INDIGENEITY IN GLOBALISM, DIASPORA, AND DIGITAL SPACE
JASON LUJAN, interdisciplinary artist (Toronto, CA); CHRISTINAMARIA PATIÑO XOCHITLZIHUATL TOU TOU SOUTIL HOULE artist and activist (San Diego, CA); MONICA VILLARREAL, interdisciplinary artist (Houston, TX). Moderated by ADRIEL LUIS, community organizer, artist, writer, and curator (Los Angeles, CA) and ASHLEY DEHOYOS, DiverseWorks Curator (Houston, TX).

This conversation reflects on complex and varied notions of “Indigenous” during a time of mass migration, the normalization of global travel, and the rise of an online presence.

3:30 PM
TERRITORY OF CARE: BODY AND LAND AS LIVING LEGACY
CANDICE D’MEZA, multidisciplinary artist (Houston, TX); MARINA MAGALHÃES, dancer and choreographer (Los Angeles, CA); JD PLUECKER, artist, writer, and cultural organizer (Houston, TX) HELANIUS J. WILKINS choreographer performer, and educator (Boulder, CO). Moderated by Ashley DeHoyos, DiverseWorks Curator (Houston, TX).

Thinking about the level of care that goes into honoring an individual or community, this panel will engage in questions about what it means to have an embodied practice that materializes through individual and community action.

5 PM
CLOSING REMARKS