Beyond Boxes: Exhibition Defies Boundaries, Critiques Injustice & Creates Futures

by Shannon Yvonne Moreau

“Brown skin, Black music, white institutions.”

That’s how Los Angeles artist Mario Ybarra Jr. describes what his art’s about. It’s illustrated in his piece for the Broken Boxes exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum (AM), which he was assembling when I arrived at the museum to prepare this article. An homage to his mother, it incorporates puppets representing various facets of her life: Girl Scout, Brown Beret, young mother, Longshore union member and the “toughest gangster” he knows. It’s titled “Music My Mom Played While Cleaning the House ...”

That music was soul and Motown.

Celebrating a Decade of Broken Boxes

Broken Boxes: A Decade of Art, Action, and Dialogue commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the Broken Boxes podcast hosted by New Mexico-based artists Ginger Dunnill and Cannupa Hanska Luger. Curated by Dunnill and AM Head Curator / Curator of Art Josie Lopez, the exhibit features 23 of the artists featured on the podcast.

Intersectionality in Art

“I really love the intersectionality of the exhibition,” says Lopez. “There's Latino artists, Indigenous artists, African American artists, Afro-Latino artists.”

Some artists, including Ybarra Jr., made new work. The rest contributed existing works that had been housed in places such as New York, L.A. and Denver.

“It's a powerhouse of a show,” says Lopez.

Curating for Social Engagement

Lopez’s academic and curatorial interests are around artwork that's socially engaged. Co-curating this show was a perfect fit for her. “One of the big ideas that we had a lot of conversations around is creating counter-narratives.”

Challenging Traditional Curation

“Taking the time to meet with and talk to and engage with every single artist,” was eye-opening for Lopez. “That is not a typical curatorial practice. It usually is sort of the academic expert bringing these things together to show one perspective.”

In Ybarra Jr.’s 2022 podcast interview, he likened this to being cast by curators who think the artist fits the exhibition’s theme.

For Broken Boxes, says Lopez, “It took some courage to let that go. [As is usual practice], we were trying to place the artists into groupings. Ginger's like, instead of breaking the box, we're putting people in boxes. So we decided to follow the chronology of the podcast,” making the exhibit “this walk through time.”

Reimagining the Future

Lopez hopes attendees “get a sense of what's involved and what the stories are in the artwork. It's a critique of injustice around the world. It’s a reimagining of the future.”

All the Deets

Broken Boxes: A Decade of Art, Action, and Dialogue exhibit

Albuquerque Museum

2000 Mountain Rd NW, 87104
Through March 2, 2025
Hours: Tue–Sun, 9am–5pm
Tickets: Adults: $6, NM residents with ID: $5, Seniors 65+: $4, Children 4 to 12: $3, Children 3 and under: Free

Admission’s FREE every Sunday from 9am to 1pm, the first Wednesday of every month, and during monthly Third Thursday events from 5-8:30pm. Don’t miss this month’s Third Thursday event:

Planting Justice / Painted Desert, Oct. 17, 6pm

Featuring Oakland-based artist and abolition advocate Kate DeCiccio, and Chip Thomas (jetsonorama), a photographer and former physician on the Navajo Nation