Carlos Motta: We Got Each Other’s Back

Carlos Motta working on fi lm project.

Carlos Motta: We Got Each Other’s Back

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, OR - Nov 7, 2020 – Feb 14, 2021

by Matthew Kangas

The multidisciplinary artist-activist Carlos Motta, with Julio Salgado, Heldáy De La Cruz and Edna Vázquez, looks at suppressed histories, communities and identities. In a three-part, multi-channel video installation on LGBTQ+ Dreamers, We Got Each Other’s Back. Chapter 1: Narrative Shifter: A Portrait of Julio Salgado talks about Salgado’s inspirations Frida Kahlo and Emery Douglas, iconographer of the Black Panthers. Motta likes talking-head video overlaid with historicized objects. If you haven’t heard the term “Undocuqueer,” you will soon. Motta’s previous exhibitions, such as History’s Backrooms and Formas de libertad, show how he tackles political subjects head-on.

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