14 Las Vegas artists show their heritage through flags they created for the short film Unseen Territories. It premiered in the Nuwu Art Gallery and Community Center in late September.
For the climactic scene of the short film Unseen Territories, cars drive down Main street in the Las Vegas Arts District brandishing flags. Some of the flags are attached to poles, some are draped over doors, others are being waved by smiling, cheering passengers. They represent how local artists identify their own heritage.
One of the film’s directors, Sydney Galindo, says the idea was sparked by the growing protest movement. In the protest A Day Without Immigrants, for example, many people flew Mexican and Central Americans flags.
"A lot of people are like representing themselves through flags," Galindo said. "So I wanted to see if we had an opportunity to create our own flags and design them to represent us, what would they look like?”
Some of the artists connected with their Indigenous roots through the creation of their flags.
One flag pictures two women: on the left, a Native Hawaiian woman dancing hula in traditional dress, and on the right, a Mexican Charo woman playing the guitar. The artist, Riot, called it Kanaka Chicana, representing her split heritage as half Hawaiian and half Mexican.
“Growing up here on the mainland and also away from Mexico and not speaking Spanish, I always felt in this grey area, like, I wasn't enough of one culture," Riot said. "But then I'd be with my Hawaiian family and they’d be like, ‘You’re too Mexican for us.’ Then I’d be with my Mexican family and they’d be like ‘You’re too Hawaiian for us.’ ”
Even though Riot felt alienated, both cultures still resonate with her. Her parents raised her to be proud of who she is and where she came from. She grew up playing the guitar and dancing Hula, something her mom would try to incorporate at home.
“I literally cannot think of a time where she didn’t bring it up or even just did it for fun in the house," she said. "I thought it was just a fond memory of her, because in a sense I also wanted to commemorate her in the flag as she passed away two years ago. It felt really nice to think of her while making it.”
Another flag featured in Unseen Territories was a two-sided flag, where both sides had a red background. In yellow, Isaac Roman Quazada painted eyes, teeth, faces and even a car coming out of the mist.
“Almost like how I uncover the same history of my belonging, where I'm from, I use the faint shadows of the information I got through the muslin to give me that information.” Quezada said.
These flags allowed artists to reconnect with a history that society taught them to shun. Quezada didn’t always self-identify as Indigenous, because his family denied that part of their heritage in Mexico.
“I was raised, unfortunately, to ignore or to not acknowledge the past. My father would always say ‘You’re not Indigenous, you’re Spanish,’” he said.
Quezada and his youngest sister are attempting to find the roots of the families’ traumas and dive deeper into their Indigenous roots.
“This inwards toxicity and negativity towards one's true identity and — of course, it's heavily influenced with Catholicism, and that’s kinda why it’s stemming from that, because they fear being identified as Indigenous could get them killed,” Quezada said.
Galindo says her vision was to give artists like Quezada and Riot the space to look deeply into who they are and where they came from.
“I’m an art curator here. And a big part of my method is having the artists do self-exploration," Galindo said. "I’ve done that in previous shows. I just love providing, like, a prompt and seeing what happens.”
Unseen Territories will play at the Winchester Dondero Cultural center on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. and will include a Q&A with the artists.
