How to Become An Ancestor

In this opening conversation, Amalia Mesa-Bains reflects on the profound and often unseen labor of shaping and sustaining an artistic—and community-rooted—legacy. In dialogue with Josh T. Franco, collector at large at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, the two will explore what it means to steward a life’s work, navigating institutional frameworks that have historically centered commercial success and privileged access.

Together, they will trace the emotional, logistical, and material dimensions of legacy work, asking what becomes possible when care and continuity are cultivated through intergenerational dialogue, collective memory, and cultural responsibility. This conversation opens the space for imagining new, more equitable models of legacy stewardship—grounded in process, community, and ancestry.

SPEAKER BIOS

Amalia Mesa-Bains

Amalia Mesa-Bains is an artist and cultural critic. Her artworks, primarily interpretations of traditional Chicano altars, resonate both in contemporary formal terms and in their ties to her Chicano community and history. She has pioneered the documentation and interpretation of Chicano traditions in Mexican-American art and is a leader in the field of community arts. Among her many awards is the distinguished MacArthur Fellowship. She is Professor Emerita in the Visual and Public Art department at California State University at Monterey Bay. She is co-author with bell hooks of Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism, as well as many essays on Latinx art history.

Josh T. Franco

Josh T. Franco is collector at large at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. He first joined the Archives as Latino collections specialist in 2015. Prior to joining the Smithsonian, he was an artist-guide at Judd Foundation, 101 Spring Street, while completing his PhD in art history at Binghamton University, SUNY.