Oscar Lopez, Without Them Is Not Us
A public mural at ICA San José
September 14th, 2024 – February 23rd, 2025
The history of many cities is based on others who are eventually pushed out and leave a legacy in the place we later call home. Cities are formed because others found water and fértil soil to cultivate and generate food to survive. As part of my ongoing project, “Your Food, My Work, Our Land,” in the new mural “Without Them Is Not Us” at the ICA San José, I’m discussing the farm history of San José and Santa Clara Valley, previously called “The Valley of Heart’s Delight.”
The history of the farmland in what is now Silicon Valley could not have been possible without the knowledge and farm labor of Japanese, Filipino, and Mexican workers. Unfortunately, these very peoples are often forgotten or erased from historical narratives in the United States. From the 1800s into the 20th century their work made the Santa Clara Valley one of the largest and most important fruit and veggie producers in the state and country. Sadly, the bounty that once fed the nation is no longer produced in San José, California. The city’s evolution eradicated the crops, history, and legacy of the Japanese, Filipino, and Mexican peoples who worked and made this place an epicenter of food production. The ease with which we cemented over the fertile soil, not only here but across the country, reveals our disengagement with our food as an integral part of our nation. A nation that desperately needs to change how farmland and farm workers are seen for our own good.
When did we forget that proximity to farmland and farmworkers is necessary to keep a society alive? Why devalue the importance of farm labor and farmland? It is important to understand and share how the historical narratives have erased the people who helped develop essential cities. It is important to know and point out that technology is necessary, but my question is, why is food not more important than technology? Without food, there is no society, money, or technology. Without food we are nothing.
Farmers remaining in the Bay Area are in danger of being pushed out due to the transformation of Silicon Valley. The result is high costs, reduced quality of food, an increased carbon footprint, and the continued disfranchisement of our food and where it comes from. It is a recurring injustice to the people we rely on for our own quality food. It happened to the Japanese, Filipino, and Mexican farm workers in the late 1800s and early 1900s and is happening again in 2024. The project urges us to consider that Without Them Is Not Us; without people working the land, we can not be a healthy society.
This project’s mission is to remember and honor the legacy of farmland and farm workers of San José and Santa Clara Valley. We need to remember the farmland and farm workers will always be the backbone of our communities. As we become more disconnected from their work, existence, and role in our society our own quality of food and life is diminished. With this mural, I aim to acknowledge, honor, and create visibility for the forgotten farm laborers who helped build the city and are still present but often overlooked.
-Oscar Lopez
Curated by Zoë Latzer, Curator and Director of Public Programs. This project is done in partnership with Local Color, an artist-lead non-profit with the mission to build equitable pathways for creatives to thrive.
This project is done in partnership with Local Color, an artist-led non-profit with the mission to build equitable pathways for creatives to thrive. Local Color is committed to providing multifaceted opportunities for emerging and established artists by keeping creatives employed, engaged, and active in our communities. They are devoted to providing equitable platforms and opportunities for all artists across race, age, ethnicity, neuro & physical abilities, sexual orientation, gender identity & expression, religion, geography, and culture. Learn more about Local Color at localcolorsj.org.
Programs and exhibitions at the ICA are made possible with thanks to generous support from the City of San José’s Office of Cultural Affairs, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the San Francisco Foundation; significant support from Applied Materials, the Lipman Family Foundation, and Yvonne and Mike Nevens; along with additional support from SVCreates.
About Oscar Lopez
Born and raised in Mexico City, Oscar Lopez found street art as the first way of communicating through images of the social injustices he experienced in his marginal neighborhood by creating
murals and urban art. In 2004, Oscar immigrated to the Bay Area, where nostalgia, assimilation, culturalization, and new injustices pushed him to explore and become more professional about his artwork and studies to keep telling and searching the social and psychological issues of the every day as an immigrant. Oscar received an AA degree in studio art from Foothill College, a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute with an emphasis on painting, and an MFA in pictorial arts from San Jose State University/ San Francisco Art Institute. He has also been studying privately and in an atelier system to understand new and old graphic techniques to create a unique visual language. Oscar continued working on making murals and paintings with social practices in public art and studio work utilizing bilingualism in language, mediums, and substrates, as well as in his teaching style as an educator. Oscar is currently working on a solo show, and his ongoing project, “Your Food, My Work, Our Land,” is creating murals and posters to share with the community and generate farm workers’ awareness and their importance in our society.
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