Alicia Mullikin. Photo by Marcus Donner. This article was written on special assignment for the Art Beat blog through the TeenTix Press Corps, a teen arts journalism program run by TeenTix, a youth empowerment and arts access nonprofit organization. Read their other Art Beat articles here.
By TeenTix Newsroom Writer Alix Smith
Alicia Mullikin is no stranger to liminal space. As first-generation, Indigenous Mexican American artist, she has spent much of her life unravelling and exploring the ties that bind her to her heritage. Throughout her childhood, she struggled to reconcile all aspects of her identity. “I was constantly trying to navigate, like am I Mexican? Am I American? And of course, I’m both… but am I enough of one thing or the other?” she said in a recent interview.
As Mullikin began exploring her relationship to her ancestors and homeland, she was struck by how elements of indigeneity have been passed down through generations. Things like using a molcajete—similar to a mortar and pestle—a design that has been used since the Aztec Empire, and having older family members emphasize the importance of growing her hair long seemed just “like a weird thing they want me to have or do,” she said. Now, with an extensive background in the arts as a dancer, choreographer, visual artist, and community organizer, she appreciates how these traditions connect her ancestors to her art.
Her most recent project is NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC at ARTS at King Street Station, a multimedia exhibition she curated as EL SUEÑO, an organization she founded to create space for artists whose voices might otherwise go unheard. The exhibit’s primary mediums are dance, paintings, and sculptural art pieces, most of which have been previously choreographed or created. One group, Tlalokan, brings Aztec Chichimeca dance as well as a sculpture made to emulate the Aztec temples. Another artist, Devin Muñoz, collaborated with Mullikin to produce dance films that highlight more traditional dancing.
The exhibit’s most ambitious piece is the result of a collaboration between Mullikin and her friend, EL SUEÑO’s Production Manager, Tessa Bañales: a sculpture which represents connections between water, earth, fire, and air. Mullikin’s contribution involves creating a centerpiece using an ollin, the Aztec symbol for movement. “It’s all a theory right now,” she said. Since the piece will make its debut in NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC, Mullikin had but a matter of weeks to move in materials and start building in preparation for opening night.
The concept of interconnectedness is as central to Mullikin as it is to the exhibition. The name of the exhibition, NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC, is an homage to the name Indigenous Mexicans gave to North America. All the time she had spent wondering if she was Mexican or American led to the realization that, “yes, technically, I am American and I am descended from Mexican people. But I’m also from the land, which was called Anáhuac,” Mullikin said. “That border did not exist to them. I belong to the land, not to the border.” This realization is one Mullikin hopes to share with visitors through the NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC exhibits, as well as future projects she has yet to create. Her next plans involve similar dance and visual art exhibits, with the addition of guest artists that join them as they travel nationwide to share the art’s messages.
Mullikin acknowledges that there are many stereotypes portrayed in the media of Mexicans as invaders and criminals, which have supported governmental emphasis on the border and border security. The families that are separated by a border wall are “not an abstract,” she insists. “These are real connections that we have to people we love on one side or the other side of the border.” Her hope is that the exhibit can help viewers appreciate the beauty of Mexican culture, and in doing so, dissolve the concept of an arbitrary border. For Mullikin, NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC says that “the border doesn’t exist for us because it never existed for our ancestors.”
