Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in LA

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The Library Foundation of Los Angeles (LFLA) will present Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A. , an exhibition and associated public programs celebrating the Zapotec language as a key lifeline sustaining shared cultural experience in Mexico, Los Angeles, and beyond. Zapotec is the most widely spoken indigenous language in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca, and Los Angeles is home to the largest population of indigenous Oaxacans outside of Mexico. Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A. will recognize the importance of the Oaxacan presence in Southern California and explore contemporary realities of indigenous culture. The project will include an installation in the Los Angeles Central Library’s Rotunda by Oaxacan artist collective Tlacolulokos, a short documentary by Oaxacan filmmaker Yolanda Cruz, and a series of 60 public programs across Los Angeles with visual artists, scholars, poets and writers. Programs, many of which will be multi-lingual, will be presented as part of LFLA’s acclaimed ALOUD literary and performance series and as community workshops in select locations of the Los Angeles Public Library.