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Community can be defined as a group of people who have shared characteristics or inhabit the same space. Drawing from works in the collection stewarded by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Mi Gente: Manifestations of Community in the Southwest considers community within a landscape that has been shaped by colonization and migration. Focusing primarily on works by Chicanx/a/o, Hispanic, and Mexican American artists based in New Mexico and Colorado, Mi Gente considers the politics and complexities of community, including those who are perceived as outsiders.

The spiritual, familial, and artistic groups represented in these artworks demonstrate that community is elastic—it is flexible, with individuals frequently weaving in and out of multiple roles and factions. This fluidity points to how traditions and shared experiences from Mexico manifest in the United States, alluding to the transnational nature of many communities. For some who have made the journey across the border or live in the borderlands, the purpose of community is often rooted in safety and survival. Furthermore, to publicly make one’s presence known through art, fashion, car culture, or political movements—to assert one’s community—can be an act of resistance. To move both within and independent of these aesthetics and to have or not have these shared experiences further complicates what community means to each individual.