Mathers Museum exhibit to showcase local Latinos

Local photographer Tyagan Miller has captured beautifully the Latino experience and identity among the Bloomington community. His photographs, along with stories and interviews from local Latinos will comprise an upcoming exhibition at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures.\n"La Cara Latina de Bloomington," opening Sunday, will feature 20 Latino Bloomington residents in a series of black and white photographs taken by Miller. Accompanying each photograph will be text from subject's interviews, which were compiled by IU students. The text will appear in English, Spanish and Portuguese. \n"The exhibit is really a coming together of community and campus resources to explore what it means to be Latino in the Bloomington community," said Judy Kirk, assistant director at the museum.\nMiller said the exhibit will help eliminate stereotypes among the the Anglo and Latino communities.\n"There are few opportunities for the Anglo and Latino communities to get to know one another," Miller said. \nThe intention of the exhibit is to both dispel common misconceptions about Latinos, and celebrate the diversity and culture of the Bloomington community.\n"First, we want to show the community that we are not like the (stereotypes), and the second part is to celebrate the Latino community and to give them a chance to say 'This is who we are,'" said Lillian Casillas, director of La Casa, the Latino Cultural Center on campus.\nJosé Luis Leyton, a Bloomington High School North student and a subject of the exhibit, wants people to understand that Latinos come from various nationalities, such as Costa Rico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Peru, Mexico and Brazil. \n"Here in Bloomington people are open…but there are those people that think that if someone is Latino then they are Mexican," said Leyton, who was born in Santiago, Chile. "They don't understand that you can be from another country and that there are many different nations that make up being Latino."\nCasillas said she hopes the exhibit will convey that the Latino population in Bloomington is as diverse as the rest of the world. \n"Our purpose is to educate the non-Latino community about the integral and equal role Latinos play within our community and to affirm the presence and experience of those within the Latino community," Casillas said. "The exhibit will give people the opportunity to celebrate the depth and variety of the Latino experience within Bloomington."\nMiller said he hopes the exhibit will help foster a better cultural understanding of the Latino community in Bloomington.\n"Perhaps 'La Cara Latina de Bloomington' can help us to know one another better," he said. "We certainly hope it will stand alongside other endeavors whose purpose is to foster understanding, happiness and the good life for everyone in our community."\nThe exhibit's opening will coincide with the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month. A reception will be held from 2 to 4 p.m., Sunday at the Mathers Museum. Performing at the opening is "Sancocho," a song and percussion group focused on African music and dance via the Caribbean Islands, as well as the Brazilian group "Acupe," which teaches the art of Capoeira Angola, a form of martial arts merged with dance and gymnastics. The Web site for the exhibit is www.lacaralatina.org.