Print Study Picks: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

By Lori Williamson

September 18, 2025—Hispanic Heritage Month, observed from September 15 to October 15, skirts official “month” status to include and honor the independence days of various Latin American countries. The artists in this edition break similarly with convention, exemplifying the spirit of inquiry and creative exploration. As you celebrate, complement with the rich array of food, music, literature, dance, and sport originating in Latin America!

Diego Rivera attained almost mythic stature in Mexico in his time. The year after he created Mercado de Tehuantepec, the Museum of Modern Art in New York gave him a one-man show, only the second in its history (the first had gone to Henri Matisse).

Rivera often visited markets to sketch. This print captures one in Tehuantepec, a city in the southeast of Oaxaca. The strong, dark lines against the vibrant yellow imbue the scene with richness, evoking the dignity and beauty of people going about their daily lives.

Born in Argentina, Santiago Cucullu now lives and works in Milwaukee. This chaotic, map-like piece was printed at Highpoint Editions in Minneapolis.

Cucullu refers to his work as a “visual mix tape.” He is best known for his vibrant, sometimes disruptive murals and multimedia installations, which combine historical, political, and cultural references with evocations of the personal and autobiographical.

Each of the 12 panels of Architectonic vs. H.R. suggests flashes of memory or historical snapshots, all linked together in a maze of rainbow color. The fragmented imagery is based on Cucullu’s sketches and photography, which he uses to document things he finds inexplicable or bizarre in everyday life. Autobiography is filtered through collective experience, and memory becomes collage.

Each of the squares above (36 3/4 × 30 inches) is individually framed, making this work very large when displayed together!

Mexican-born, Los Angeles-based artist Enrique Chagoya is renowned for his biting political and social satire that exposes the foibles, shortcomings, and corruption of contemporary life. Using found and repurposed cultural, historical, and mythological imagery, Chagoya creates complex, open-ended narratives that invite subjective interpretations.

The Waters of Oblivion in Mictlán, a spectacularly extensive (21 x 87 inch) scroll, appears to hark back to 16th-century prints of imagined triumphal processions, particularly those of Maximilian I.

Explaining his approach, Chagoya says:

My codex books are based on the idea that history is told by those who win wars. Previous historic accounts are erased, destroyed, or buried in oblivion. A new official story is invented to justify the new reality of events. Cultures are transformed and often completely destroyed by conquering ones. The world is endlessly remapped and renamed, with new rules and rulers in recurrent holocausts. New ‘world orders’ come and go in the middle of ideological frenzy.

The 20th century has been perhaps the most violent in the world’s history. Humankind is in constant war with itself, perfectly capable of total destruction. This is the raw material for my art. Since from this perspective history is an ideological construction, I decided to invent my own account of the many possible stories—from Cortez to the border patrol—in my own visual language. I mix pre-Columbian mythology with Catholic icons, American comics, and images of ethnic stereotypes.

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About Lori Williamson, Supervisor of the Herschel V. Jones Print Study Room at Mia

Lori Williamson creates mini-exhibitions and teaches classes and Print Study Room visitors about the museum’s rich collection of works on paper. She’s the primary caretaker for more than 40,000 prints, 6,000 drawings, and 600 artists’ books, collaborating with curators in American, European, and Global Contemporary Art to make these holdings accessible. Williamson supports scholars through research and inquiry, and advocates for the inclusion of works on paper in exhibitions, social media, and outreach, helping to connect diverse audiences with this dynamic collection.

Interested in seeing something in the Print Study Room? All are welcome by appointment. Email Lori Williamson and copy the Print Study Room to make an appointment.

Meet the other curators in the Department of European Art.