Y así voy por el mundo, sin edad ni destino.
Al amparo de un cosmos que camina conmigo.
And that's how I go through the world, without age nor destiny.
With the refuge of a universe that walks with me.
Atahualpa Yupanqui
La caravana migrante
Historically people have migrated—leaving family and community and often risking their lives—to reinvent the future for themselves and their loved ones by escaping violence, war, persecution, poverty, and unemployment. Artist Talavera-Ballón’s “La caravana migrante” makes visible the many hardships experienced by migrants traveling from Mexico and Central America to the United States, displaced by force and by the many slow violences of economic inequity and decades-long US policy in Central America. The desolation and uncertainty migrants face during their pilgrimage north is palpable in his paintings, as is their dignity and the sense of community they share as they traverse a forbidding combination of desert terrain and risky rail travel.
From one US administration to the next, debates shift, and policies change both in name and in substance with real and lived consequences. In the midst of this country’s ongoing debate on immigration, and in the places where the US narrative heralding our history as immigrants confronts a nationalist impulse to build walls, Talavera- Ballón’s paintings hold our attention on the humanity of the migrants, inviting the viewer into contemplation, reflection, and discussion. These works are both complement and counterpoint to Hostile Terrain 94, which takes a data driven approach to the human cost of a border policy which was conceived to force migrants into “hostile terrain.”
Talavera-Ballón is a Peruvian-born painter based in San Francisco. A disciple of acclaimed artist Luis Palao Berastain, Talavera-Ballón explores timely social and cultural themes in his works, with particular attention to immigrants like himself, leaving their home countries in hopes of creating new lives. He has exhibited widely in galleries, museums, and universities across Perú, Chile, and the US including Museo Qoricancha, Cuzco; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Cuzco; the Peruvian Embassy, Washington, DC; the Latino Art Museum, Pomona, CA; Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, CA, UC Berkeley and the de Young Museum. His work has been recognized locally by both the San Francisco Arts Commission and San Francisco Open Studios. His latest public art commissions include a 772 sq. ft. historical mural in Redwood City, CA, a 40x7 ft mural at the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco and a 30x8 ft mural at Hermanos en el Camino, a migrant shelter in Oaxaca, Mexico.
