Lucha Libre masks on display at the Latin American Cultural Center // Photo by Soren DeNiz
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“I’m speechless and I almost want to cry.”
My mom’s reaction to the Mexican Masks exhibit at the Latin American Cultural Center was so touching for me to experience. My entire life in Pittsburgh, I had never gotten to see my mom connect with her culture quite as deeply as when we went to see the exhibit at the LACC together.
Chelo Cruz, my mom, was born in Tamaulipas, Mexico, and moved to Pittsburgh in 1998. She lives far from her family, but she has found her own Latin American community in Pittsburgh through the St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Beechview. And while this community is thriving and has supported a lot of Latine immigrants who have moved here, Pittsburgh still seems to not have much Latine representation in the public eye.
The Latin American Cultural Center is helping rectify that. The LACC, located in a beautiful building on Bigelow Boulevard in Oakland, is an outreach initiative of the Latin American Studies Association that formed at the University of Pittsburgh. Since September 2022, the LACC has featured museum displays and exhibitions that aim to give visitors a greater appreciation of Latin American arts, history, and culture. Their newest exhibition, Mexican Masks: Symbols, Celebrations, Satire, & Safety, showcases the history of masks mainly used in Mexico for traditional ceremonies.
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The most modern day twist of the masks included in this exhibit were the masks of Mexican “Lucha Libre” wrestlers. This section made my mom laugh.
“Whoever does not know El Santo and Blue Demon is not Mexican,” my mom joked about well-known Lucha Libre wrestlers.
Although this type of professional wrestling might seem like a violent activity, it has become a cultural symbol of hope and opportunity in Mexico. As my mom put it, the wrestlers “represented that which you could not be.”
In a way, these wrestling personas with their masks have continued the sentiment of carved ceremonial masks, hiding any fear behind and becoming a symbol that represents the people.
“To me, as a Mexican, obviously this means a lot to me, and it returns me to my roots, to my culture, to the history of each village,” my mom said as we were leaving the Latin American Cultural Center. “Of course, I think everybody that enters here is going to discover something they have never seen.”
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Imagine driving down Boulevard of the Allies, looking up at the billboards, and, instead of passing the expected law firm advertisement, you see an oversized photograph of a familiar-looking energetic person with colorful clothing. Sure enough, the billboard confirms this is fashion designer Anika Ignozzi whose Millvale storefront you used to frequent. To the left of Anika on this billboard is an even better known name: Warhol.
This is the third year The Andy Warhol Museum is running its “Join the Family” brand campaign. The goal each year is to feature four creatives who have been strongly involved in Pittsburgh’s artistic community, according to Rick Armstrong, the museum’s Director of Marketing and Communications.
In addition to Ignozzi, the individuals featured in this year’s print ads and billboards, which were created in partnership with creative agency Barkley, are Pittsburgh-based cake decorator Josué Luciano, performance artist Caroline Yoo, and interdisciplinary artist Alisha B Wormsley.
“There's just something magical that happens in that studio that day with these people,” Armstrong says of the filming and photoshoot sessions with this year’s featured artists. “I'm always so surprised by what people say when they react.”
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It was really great to see how The Warhol’s “Join the Family” campaign was truly an artistic collaboration, not just to advertise the museum but to really highlight the creators who make Pittsburgh’s arts community as culturally rich as it is.
“I'm something that is tangible, that is from Pittsburgh, that is a young designer,” Ignozzi says about her role in connecting with the local creative community.
It’s also a way The Andy Warhol Museum can uphold its namesake’s legacy.
“There's a piece of him in there with each of them, you know,” Armstrong shares about the collaborating creators, “but in a very different way.”
Promotional graphic featuring Alisha Wormsley // Photo by The Andy Warhol Museum