Feb. 2, 1848 marks the day then-Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Ana ceded more than half of Mexico’s northern territories to the United States.
This included modern-day California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and several other states.
The border crossed the Mexicans who lived on those lands after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican-American War and redrew the boundary lines between the two nations.
San Antonio’s Centro Cultural Aztlan has commemorated the significance of Feb. 2 — or the Segundo de Febrero — for the last 47 years with an art exhibition.
It was launched by Centro’s founding fathers, figures who were also key in launching the Chicano movement in San Antonio and Texas, including Mario Compean, Ramón Vásquez y Sánchez, and Carlos Gonzalez.
This year’s exhibition, Seguimos, or “we go on,” pays tribute to those who chose to stay on their land and become U.S. citizens, and to the Mexican immigrants who have arrived since then.
It explores themes of migration, adaptation, and coexistence.
Malena Gonzalez-Cid, long-time executive director of Centro Cultural Aztlan, said the exhibition celebrates the duality of Mexican American identity.
“It’s mostly to promote the positive energy that we wanted to create as a new raza, as a new identity,” she said. “The duality of switching back and forth between being an American and being a Mexican.”
Mauro Murillo, a native of Coahuila, Mexico, is the lead artist of the Segundo de Febrero exhibit.
He spoke about the significance of his contribution to the exhibit, Cancíon de un Coyote.
The large canvas depicts an indigenous man wearing a traditional Mexican poncho and standing with his arms raised, as if he was giving a blessing.
“It’s about my personal journey as an immigrant,” he said. “For this painting, I wanted it to mean something good is coming. The darkness is going away and the light is coming back.”
The 2024 Segundo de Febrero exhibit, Seguimos, opens Friday, Feb. 2 at Centro Cultural Aztlan in San Antonio. It will remain on display through Feb. 29.
Read featured artist statements below:
