If you stumble into an art gallery where vendors, artists, families and friends are all intermingling, with laughter and vulnerability on full display amidst a variety of art, and you find yourself completely at ease, you’ve probably happened upon a one-night pop-up of ¡Mmm Pues!
Long Beach’s newest art show series is a thoughtful concoction of Latinx representation, acceptance and courage, from longtime artist and budding event curator Amor Roldan. It took a few years and plenty of practice silencing self-doubt, but if Roldan can’t find the type of space she wants to exist in, she’ll simply make it herself.
That was the driving force behind the first gathering she created: the crochet and socializing club Yap & Stitch a few years ago, then tiny art markets after that. The same sentiment was also behind ¡Mmm Pues!
“My grandma would always say that and it was always just to end a conversation or it was to bring news to someone and I noticed from my conversation with an old friend, to my grandma, how this is like universally spoken a lot in the Latinx community,” Roldan said about the name of the show.
Roldan’s work can be appreciated with a twinge of nostalgia, often circling themes of home, belonging and vulnerability. With a healthy dose of whimsy and a willingness to invite others into her space, she jokes that her “social media influencer side” often is at odds with her desire to be “as vulnerable as possible.”
The poster for the first ¡Mmm Pues! show in August depicts a single white lawn chair, a la Bad Bunny’s “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.” But instead of a lush green setting, the ¡Mmm Pues! flier’s lone chair sits in what looks like a Mexican barrio, with red brick exposed underneath chipping paint and fabric drying on a clothesline.
A small bunch of roses leans in the chair next to a brown paper bag. Maybe they were left by an unrequited lover, maybe they’re waiting as a surprise for a family member. It beautifully and subtly captures the theme of Roldan’s first show, “everything we wish we would have said.”
For the 30 local artists who submitted their pieces, it was their chance to express something they might not have had the chance to in typical gallery spaces across the city.
“I’ve seen so many [galleries] in the city and I feel like for my art show, I want to have everyone feel like they have an opportunity to show their art, because I feel like growing up, I always considered myself to be an artist, but I was so scared to submit something,” Roldan said. “I want people, when they see ¡Mmm Pues!, from any culture, any background, community, I want them to feel like they can submit and have a chance of being accepted. I want it to be a space where people feel seen, heard and valued.”
With the help of family and friends, Roldan presented the first-ever ¡Mmm Pues! show on Aug. 1, displaying paintings, photography, projected videos, crochet, embroidery, mixed media and more. Loved ones accompanied the artists, many of whom were presenting their work in public for the first time.
“I felt like a proud mom,” Roldan said, laughing. “Everyone had their spotlight and that’s all I wanted, was for them to feel the love and their art to be shown.”
Acceptance and vulnerability were also on full display that evening, as they typically are at Roldan’s events. The belief that people should feel welcome no matter what has grounded her as she’s pushed herself to host larger events and bring more people together.
Roldan’s vulnerability has also helped shape her art, as well as the themes of ¡Mmm Pues! True to Latino culture, the influence of Roldan’s family is undeniable in anything she does.
The next show, slated for early November, is in honor of her father, an artist himself, who passed away when Roldan was 9 years old. Roldan has distinct memories of admiring her father’s many tattoos, watching tattooing reality shows with him and imagining being an artist one day.
“I knew I wanted it to be in November, my dad passed away when I was 9 and his birthday was Nov. 15,” Roldan said. “He was such an artistic person and this is in honor of him. I have so many of his art pieces and he never got to show them.”
The theme “Coming Home” will coincide with Día de los Muertos, inviting artists and the community at large to celebrate their loved ones and examine how these memories have shaped who they are.
“‘Coming Home’ creates a space for artists to explore what endures after absence and what it means to return,” the show announcement reads. “Coming home can be physical, spiritual, emotional, or symbolic. It may be the return of a loved one through memory, the rediscovery of one’s roots, the reclamation of culture, or finding a way back to oneself.”
The show at Loiter Galleries will also feature a community ofrenda, where visitors can bring an item or photo of a loved one to adorn the altar for the evening, then take it back home with them. For those who don’t want or have an item to bring, they can write a note to an ancestor and leave it on the altar.
Roldan recognizes this particular theme is asking people to reveal something personal about themselves. Especially for the Latino community, who find much of their sense of self through their family and culture, and where that culture can sometimes encourage toughness over vulnerability.
“For this art show I wanted people to come in and celebrate their loved ones and themselves,” Roldan said. “For my art piece, it’s about me coming home to prior to my dad passing and just being able to see and feel the love of our loved ones there. I feel like sometimes in our culture we’re often told to ‘be strong and it’s okay, you’ll be okay,’ but it’s okay to cry too. I wanted that space where we can just cry together.”
Artists can submit pieces for the ¡Mmm Pues! “Coming Home” show until Oct. 10 at 11:59 p.m. through the link in the bio of @mmm_puesartshow on Instagram. Artists can submit pieces inspired by family history, personal experiences, cultural traditions, ancestral memory or imagined narratives.
The show will take place on Nov. 14 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Loiter Galleries (425 Promenade N.).
