Olmeca Performs at Gray Colloquium

Multidisciplinary artist, activist, and scholar Olmeca visited St. Mark’s on Thursday, October 10, as part of the Gray Colloquium speaker series. To watch a recording of the event, select this link. 

Olmeca grew up in Los Angeles and Mexico, a reality that brewed his blending of music genres (hip-hop fusion of Latin American traditional rhythms) and heightened his cultural sensitivity to social realities on both sides of the border. As a Tepehuan/Chicano part of the Indigenous diaspora, Olmeca uses his music and presentations to explore the multifaceted and evolving concept of Latinx identity, hip-hop and social justice, Indigenous futurisms, as well as the transformative and healing power of art.

Olmeca is faculty member at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in the Interdisciplinary Gender and Ethnic Studies Department, teaching Latin American History, Latinx in the U.S., and hip-hop courses, and currently sits on the advisory board for Action Lab. 

Olmeca’s challenging journey has shaped his offerings as a gifted solo artist, as well as an inspiring and uplifting lecturer. He has lived through homelessness, food insecurity, and violence while also experiencing rural life in Mexico. He moved to Chiapas to work closely with Indigenous groups there. He studied anti-systemic theories, participated in self-sustainable projects and learned the importance of collective healing from colonial trauma. These experiences allowed his educational and artistic work to become interpretations of this reality, exposing the complexities of capitalism, race, identity, and the notion of belonging.