Moran 1

Michael Moran
Professor Shahrazad Encinias
CAS 115
26 November 2022
Community Event #3: Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA)
Recently I had the great pleasure of going to the Museum of Latin American Art in Long
Beach, California. It serves the greater Los Angeles area and is the only museum in the nation
dedicated to Latino art. Going to the museum was a great experience, the exhibits were very
thought provoking and it made me fascinated how some of these pieces of work were created. I
also think it’s a little bit sad how there is only one museum dedicated to Latin American art since
Latinos make up a lot of the population in the United States. I believe there should be more.
In one of the rooms there was an exhibition of a painting of La Virgen de Guadalupe. She
was surrounded by an ofrenda, in what looked to be like a closet. I think a lot of the imagery in
the museum made me feel comfortable and at home since I am Latino and I think I am used to
seeing a lot of what the artists get inspired by. I found this other exhibition pretty cool since it
was a bunch of fruit cartons stacked on top of each other, painted to show an image of a man
putting fruits in a bag. I think this piece has to be a metaphor or symbolic to agricultural workers.
I love the creativity behind this piece and I have never seen anyone do something like that
before. Another one of my favorite pieces was the one of a lady with a red “USA” sweater
selling flowers with a blanket over her head. It reminds me so much of the flower vendors I pass
by every time I’m back in my hometown. There are several lined up in every corner of the
intersection right next to my house. I feel bad not being able to support small businesses as such
all the time since I don’t really have a demand or need to buy flowers. I hope once I have money
to support more small businesses I can give back to a lot more of the community since that labor
isn’t easy. I wanna start giving my mom flowers, too.
Overall, going to the MOLAA or Museum of Latin American Art was an incredibly
enriching experience. I got to learn more about Latino art and the talent some of these artists
have. I would recommend everybody to go since it is free on Sundays and it makes for a great
experience getting to see tons of cool pieces. There were also a lot of informative signs talking
about Latin American culture that taught me things I did not already know. I think I will go back
one day with my family or visit other art exhibits because I love seeing highly-skilled works of
art in person. It also inspires me to maybe even create my own art in the future.