True New Mexico Art Exhibit Showcases Talent of Black and AAPINH Youth

Black and AAPINH youth dismantle the tri-cultural myth with “Outside the Shell” art exhibit.

The New Mexico Black Leadership Council and New Mexico Asian Family Center join forces once again for True New Mexico 2022. The True NM anti-racism youth art project launched in 2021 with an online photo exhibit and a show at the May ArtWalk. This year a new group of Black and AAPINH youth are creating “Outside the Shell.” The title is inspired by writer and cultural anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston.

“The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.”

— Zora Neale Hurston

The vision behind True NM is to deconstruct the tri-cultural myth: that New Mexico is a place where Hispanics, Indigenous, and Anglo people live together in harmony. The problems with this myth is that it ignores ongoing racism and erases the experiences of Asian American Pacific Islander Native Hawaiian (AAPINH) and Black people in New Mexico. The True NM project consists of youth artists from the Black and AAPINH communities. Their artwork answers the prompt, “What’s your True New Mexican story?”

Join us Saturday, May 28th, 2022 for the “Outside the Shell” art exhibit. The show runs from 1:00 to 3:00PM and takes place at the NMBLC office in the heart of the International District of Albuquerque: 1258 Ortiz Dr. SE, Albuquerque, NM 87108. 

The project was made possible by funds received by the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund through an Anti-Racism Response Network Grant and the New Mexico Humanities Council.

“Love isn’t about what we did yesterday; it’s about what we do today and tomorrow and the day after.”

— Grace Lee Boggs