2025 Ted Purves Social Practice Lecture

The recipient of the 2025 Ted Purves Social Practice Award in Graduate Fine Arts will be announced at the lecture.

Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio's recent work and research has focused on the various connections between Central America and Los Angeles. He believes that focusing on multiple sites as a part of the same community and history is a crucial de-colonizing strategy and problematizes the term native.

"My work addresses immigration by default, but I am more interested in the possibilities of an expanded understanding of identity and place making. Our history is being erased and I feel an urgency to reclaim the narrative of the Latinx identity in the US and abroad. This erasure refers to the complex colonial underpinnings of our contemporary crises and to the importance of our cultural, technological, and economic contributions to the world. I use materials that have a strong tie to pre-hispanic cultures in Central America to document Central American communities in Los Angeles. The rubber works in the “Caucho” series are made from the sap of one non-native tree capturing the surface of another non-native species in a community of non-native people—all of which have become rooted and integral to the very essence of those multiple sites.

My work utilizes formal strategies within a primarily materialist practice because colonial injustices have not only been directed towards humans. Environmental justice is inextricably linked to social justice and allowing material to be a collaborator in the works acknowledges it as a part of its own narrative. Perhaps the clearest way to follow the traces and branches of colonialism and historical oppression is to first claim total material non-neutrality. There is no neutral position within an ecological understanding of the world where environmental justice is inextricably linked to social justice and all materials in art making (especially our bodies) are part of that conversation. 

This work explores the visual and conceptual po­­ssibilities of globally ubiquitous raw materials and products of indigenous knowledge of Latin America. In recent years, I have produced large scale rubber casts that document the social and economic relationships between Latin America and the United States through specific use of material, multiplicity of site and metaphorical gesture."

Education: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Yale University, MFA Painting/Printmaking Bard College, BA Studio Arts Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC)

Awards include: California Community Foundation, Fellowship for the Visual Arts, Los Angeles, CA, Schell Center for Human Rights year-long Fellowship, Yale University, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Sol LeWitt and Elizabeth Murray Studio Arts Award, Bard College.

The Fine Arts Lecture Series is a cornerstone of CCA's vibrant campus culture, providing an exceptional platform for students to engage with eminent artists from around the world. This dynamic immersive series offers an unparalleled opportunity for students to witness the creative process, gain insights into diverse artistic perspectives, and interact with established professionals.

Through these inspiring interactions, students are not only exposed to cutting-edge techniques and innovative concepts but also encouraged to think critically, question norms, and broaden their artistic horizons. The series fosters an environment of intellectual curiosity, cultural enrichment, and creative growth, empowering students to evolve as both skilled artists and well-rounded individuals poised for success in the competitive world of contemporary art.

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