Martha Ramirez-Oropeza

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Martha Ramirez-Oropeza (born 1952) is a muralist, painter, theater performer, and researcher known for her work on the pre-Hispanic Nahuatl culture.[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Martha Ramirez-Oropeza was born in Delicias, Chihuahua, Mexico and her parents were migrant farmworkers.[2] Due to this, she continuously traveled from Delicias to Colusa, California.[2] She worked with her family in the fields picking prunes at a young age.[2] Her family eventually settled down in Pacoima which is a neighborhood in Los Angeles.[3] She experienced discrimination by a teacher that washed her mouth with soap after speaking Spanish when she was in second grade.[2][3][4] These experiences then lead her to partake in the Chicano Movement, a hunger strike for the United Farmworkers Union, creating anti-war posters, and planning and paintings murals.[2]

Ramirez-Oropeza pursued an education at California State University, Northridge.[3][5] She received her Bachelor of Art from Antioch University in 2008.[5]

Career[edit]

Ramirez-Oropeza co-founded the Universidad Nahuatl De Ocotepec, located in Ocotepec, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. One motivation to co-found this university was resistance to the discrimination she and many have experienced.[6] She has been a coordinator for the university and was a professor teaching Nahuatl philosophy for 13 years.[5][6] Her scholarly work and art continued in California at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Social and Public Art Resource Center.[1] At UCLA, Ramirez-Oropeza teaches courses in Chicano/a Studies and Art.[7]

She is considered an expert on the Day of the Dead ritual because she has dedicated many years to research about it, despite not growing up with the tradition.[8] At SPARC, she is an Artist in Residence, and she partners with SPARC to lead the Day of the Dead Ritual yearly.[1][8][9]

She is also a performing arts teacher at Edison Language Elementary.[1]

Art and exhibitions[edit]

Ramirez-Oropeza began drawing and creating art at a young age to escape her reality.[4] At the age of 18, she made the decision to move back to Mexico and develop her art.[4] In Mexico, she developed her skills under the guidance of muralist David Alfaro Siquieros.[4] In this apprenticeship, she collaborated with him on the mural Patricios y Patricidas.[4] Ramirez-Oropeza has also collaborated with Chicana muralist Judith Baca in a project titled The World Wall.[4]

Ramirez-Oropeza has painted a variety of murals in both the United States and Mexico.[1] In 2004, she was a recipient of an Award that was funded by the Durfee Foundation.[10]

  • "Atzalan-Topialitzi" Mural at the University of Oregon[11]
    • Martha painted the mural in 1989 after being reached out by MEChA members from the University of Oregon.[11] The purpose of the mural was to preserve the Chicano Movement history.[11] Martha includes the history of Aztecs, Mestizos, and Chicanos to remind people about the roots of Chicanos.[11]
  • "Together Through Two Languages" Mural at Edison Language Academy in Santa Monica, California.[12]
  • "Holding on to our Roots" Painting.[5][13]
  • "Tlazolteotl: Creative Force of the Un-Woven" Mural by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza & Patricia Quijano. The mural was part of "The World Wall: A Vision of the World Without Fear" event in Mexico.[14][15][16]
    • Martha Ramirez-Oropeza collaborated with Patricia Quijano on this mural which was part of an event that Judith Baca invited them to, organized by SPARC.[16] This exhibit is a travel installation mural and both artists painted the mural in 1999, but it was revealed in 2001.[16] The inspiration for the mural was mother earth, because she regenerates and heals everything and everyone.[16] Both artists wrote a poem after finishing the mural that reflected their feelings about it.[15]

Further reading[edit]

  • "The Toltec I Ching" – Written by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza & William Douglas Horden
  • "Huehuepohualli: Counting the Ancestors' Heartbeat" by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza
  • "Mikamoxtzin, Little Book of The Day of the Dead Ritual / El Librito del Ritual del Dia de Muertos" – Co-Authors: Martha Ramirez-Oropeza & Alicia Valencia Reyes

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "UCLA International Institute". www.international.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ramirez-Oropeza, Martha. ""Huehuepohualli: Counting the Ancestors' Heartbeat" by Martha Ramirez Oropeza". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ a b c "For Martha Ramirez-Oropeza, Art is a Healing and Transformative Force | P.S. ARTS". 2020-01-16. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Page, Dawn (26 May 2004). "Una visión mundial de paz" [A world vision of peace]. La Opinión (in Spanish). Los Angeles. p. 1D. ProQuest 368293721.
  5. ^ a b c d "Martha Ramirez Oropeza — Artist, Philosopher, Teacher". martharamirezoropeza.com. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  6. ^ a b Leyva, Yolanda Chávez (2003). "In ixtli in yóllotl/ a face and a heart: Listening to the Ancestors". Studies in American Indian Literatures. 15 (3/4): 96–127. ISSN 0730-3238. JSTOR 20737216.
  7. ^ "Día de Muertos Book Presentation and Ofrenda" (PDF). University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Tamales, salt and bread 'bones': How foods are central to Day of the Dead". Los Angeles Times. 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  9. ^ "Dia De Los Muetros 2021". SPARCinLA. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  10. ^ "Martha Ramirez-Oropeza". The Durfee Foundation. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  11. ^ a b c d NBC 16 (2017-09-30). "University of Oregon unveils mural for Hispanic Heritage Month". KMTR. Retrieved 2021-11-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "Santa Monica School Named One of the Best in California". SM Mirror. 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  13. ^ "Nahuatl Language Program | Yale Macmillan Center Newsletters". newsletter.macmillan.yale.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  14. ^ Baca, Judith F. "Birth of a Movement" (PDF). Birth of a Movement 30 Years in the Making of Sites of Public Memory. p. 118.
  15. ^ a b "Mexican Panel". SPARCinLA. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  16. ^ a b c d Ramirez Oropeza, Martha (2015). "En los andamios del cambio: arte, política y cultura indígena". repositorio.unam.mx (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-10.

External links[edit]

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