Facing Change: Mexican Masking Today

The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is proud to present Facing Change: Mexican Masking Today. Combining contemporary artworks with a curated selection of 20th-century Mexican masks, this exhibition looks at the complex forms that masking takes across the Mexican diaspora.

Masking—an act that creates a fluid interplay of new personas and chosen faces—has been a consistent presence in Mexican communities from precolonial times to the present. Masks have been used to express identity and opinions, resist oppression, celebrate spirituality, connect societies together, complicate binary interpretations of culture, and alter the shape of popular entertainment. The evolution of masks does not move in a direct line; rather it recurs and transforms as people search for new ways to negotiate their sense of self and their community identity in defiance of the forces that try to negate them.

The exhibition was curated with a team of collaborators that included specialists in history, art history, and anthropology. The museum’s Executive Director, Alisha Kerlin, celebrates the network that came together as the exhibition was being created.

“We believe that university museums can bridge academic collaboration and community outreach, and will continue to look for partners who believe in what we are doing,” she said.

Facing Change “looks at masking beyond objects, positioning masks as ever-changing tools of art that continuously help Mexican communities to embody our past, negotiate changes we face, and even put forward ideas about our futures” according to Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art Collection and Exhibitions Manager Higino Abrajano.

The exhibition examines popular forms of Mexican masking, such as lucha libre wrestlers and payasos (clowns), and asks how diaspora artists have used these masks as a language that enables them to talk about personal thoughts and feelings in public spaces.

Artists

The artists include Marcel Alcalá, Azul, Judy Baca, Jesús Barraza, Haide Calle, Melanie Cervantes, Federico Cuatlacuatl, Karla Diaz, Carlos Donjuan, geo, Lourdes Grobet, Joel Hernandez, Mari Hernandez, Graciela Iturbide, Brian Martinez, Narsiso Martinez, Brian McNamara, Josiah O’Balles, Luis A. Reyes, Griselda Rosas, Javier Sanchez. Facing Change includes texts from several of our exhibition partners, Dr. Miriam Melton-Villanueva, Dr. Vincent Perez, and Dr. Iván Sandoval-Cervantes.

Schedule

Facing Change: Mexican Masking Today will be on view in the East Gallery of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art from Oct. 23, 2026–May 22, 2027. A reception will take place during the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Art Walk event on Oct. 23, 5–9 p.m. The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is open from Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. It is closed on state and federal holidays. Entry is free.

Partners and Supporters

This exhibition was created in partnership with Dr. Jorge Galindo, Dr. Emmanuel Ortega, Dr. Vincent Perez, Dr. Iván Sandoval-Cervantes, Irma Varela, Dr. Miriam Melton-Villanueva, the UNLV Latinx Faculty and Staff Alliance, and the Consulate of Mexico in Las Vegas. We thank our partners for their generous help in translating the exhibition texts.

Facing Change is supported by the following areas of UNLV: the College of Fine Arts, the Latinx Faculty and Staff Alliance, the Office of Information Technology, and the Office of Government and Community Engagement. The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art’s Bus to Barrick field trip program is supported by UNLV’s Office of Government and Community Engagement, UNLV’s College of Fine Arts Alumni Association, and Howard Watts III. 

Image

Federico Cuatlacuatl, Nacaxtotomo, 2024, Mixed media, dried ixtle natural fiber, synthetic textile fabrics, palm reeds, iridescent vinyl, handcrafted papier mâché and gold leaf. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Camilo Pachón