" But I do consider myself an artist. A low rider is an expression of what's going on inside the owner. " - Pedro Cisneros, President, Chicago Chapter-Amistad Car Club

This is in memory of a friend and brother by the Chicago Chapter of the Amistad Car Club. For this exhibit they and artist Miguel Cortez created a modern altar for the deceased low rider, Raymond Sandoval. This piece has objects that work as metaphors to represent Raymond's Car. "Amistad" means allies or friendship in Spanish. This modern altar or "ofrenda" is reminiscent of the mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos. This holiday is focused on the idea of remembering those who have passed away by placing objects that were familiar with or pictures of the deceased and friends as well as family members. Para Ray Sandoval is symbolic of the Amistad Car Club effort to keep alliance with their remembered and fellow low riders.

“Liberate” is a response to the propaganda we are bombarded with as an excuse to kill and colonize another nation; the lies we are told and the civil liberties we have lost. My boxes are a play on words and beg the obvious question, “Liberate who?” Should we liberate this Iraqi child in the distorted photograph? Should we free the toy solider that seems trapped inside the box? Must we liberate your mind from the propaganda?

from http://truthout.org/
Amid a series of suicide bombings, soldiers at a checkpoint near the entrance to one of Saddam's palaces had been ordered to take out any vehicle that ignored instructions to stop and a volley of warning shots.

An Iraqi soldier had barreled through, dressed as a civilian in a car full of weapons, and he'd been cut down by these soldiers hunkered down in ambush position. Then came another car, whose driver also ignored warning shots, and the soldiers opened fire with deadly purpose. A father and his daughter were killed. The mother, who emerged from the burning car unhurt, spent the next four hours in the faces of the men who had just wiped out her family.

"I had to look that woman right in the eyes," he said, "and I felt so horrible for her. I've got a little girl." -Spc. 1st Class Bill Scates of Oklahoma City

Homeland Security Wallet
Wallet and boxes
Miguel Cortez
2003 

Homeland Security Wallet is a play on the consumerism and propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with through the government controlled corporate US Media. This monster tries to control our needs and emotions by manipulating our feelings through fear and deception. From the Sept. 11 massacre discrepancies that are not investigated as to how much the government knew, to the sudden disappearance of Bin Laden in the news being replaced with a new media manufactured "evil"(Saddam) in a matter of several months. I say buy duct tape and why not protect your cash from terrorists?

el tiempo sigue cambiando #3
time keeps changing #3
(in rememberance of the student massacre in Mexico City 1968)
computer print wall installation on foam core against a red wall
Taller Mestizarte 1998

el tiempo sigue cambiando #1
time keeps changing #1
computer print wall installation on foam core with logo cut out
Casa de Arte y Cultura-Calles y Suenos 1997

Fragmented photograph by Lewis Hine, who during the early 1900s photographed the horrible conditions of child labor in the United States. This is superimposed with the NIKE logo and should make the viewer compare the difference between centuries and what has changed? US Corporations exploit child labor in so called Third World countries instead of in the US?
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/