‘Let Us Gather in a Flourishing Way’ Defies Expectations of What Latinx Painting Should Look Like
There is a painting at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum that I still can’t get out of my head, six months after I saw it. It only measures 40 by 30 inches, and I missed it on my first walk through the gallery. Made by Los Angeles–based artist Karla Diaz in thinned-out acrylic paint, it shows two Latino men, both with mustaches, one carrying the other on his shoulders. The painting’s joyful casualness belies its subject matter, clues to which can be found in the coyote on one of the men’s shirts and in the work’s title, Uncle’s Crossing (2022). Diaz depicted her late uncle, who was a coyote, or someone who helps undocumented people cross into the United States. The role of the coyote is controversial in Latinx communities, often regarded as a necessary evil: someone who may help you get into the US but exploit you along the way. Growing up, Diaz recalled, talking about her uncle’s job was taboo at home. “He would whisper, ‘Okay, I’m leaving for work,’ and I was …
