Mexico

Locations:

Oaxaca City, Puerto Escondido, and José María Morelos, Oaxaca State

Description:

In May 2008, HHTI traveled to three communities in Oaxaca State, Mexico, to facilitate dialogue and collaborative art regarding police harassment and brutality, drug use and prevention, and the impact of mass immigration in the search for better jobs and wages. In Oaxaca City, local artist, activist, and youth leader Fuser and his community of artists discussed the history of Hip Hop, shared their skills – ranging from Rap and Emceeing to Breaking to tattooing – and collaborated with peers to begin creating interdisciplinary pieces. Together, the community identified issues and began brainstorming solutions, including writing to their government leaders.

In Puerto Escondido, community leader Silvia Maria introduced HHTI to a group of five young leaders, as well as parents concerned about drug use and prevention in their city. In one day, these students came together to make posters about drug prevention for their schools’ hallways and create a short theater piece about the coastal environment in which they are growing up and that they want
to preserve.

Finally, in José María Morelos, Israel, a leader of the Afro-Mexican community, greeted HHTI in his rural town and introduced the team to parents and their children. Here the youth of Costa Chica centered their work around the long absences of family members searching for jobs in the North, and drug prevention. They did writing, improvisation, and visual art exercises that were shared with the older members of the community.

This exciting project was carried out by HHTI Director Daniel Banks and HHTI members Luisa Ines Garcia and Ismael Cruz Cordova.

Fuser’s Crew – Oaxaca City, Mexico

José María Morelos