Johanna Toruño

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Johanna Toruño will give a presentation as part of the Visual Arts Lecture Series. 

Artist's Statement
I am a Salvadoran born community taught visual artist utilizing the streets as a public platform and gallery. Raised in San Salvador until being displaced in the US at 10 I was inspired and taught by my experiences growing up in the aftermath of the civil war in my country to use poster work as a medium to self express and center a queer migrant lens. Political Art is the people's art because it has been used for many generations. This is not a new concept created by myself. Political public art is the creation of people over many many years.

I am inspired by the people that exist in public spaces. The working class & immigrant Black & Brown communities are the beat of the heart of the streets.

I am led by community, my ancestors, and the elders and artists before me who have paved the way for me to do the work that I do. The Black folks and specifically women who have created culture- The Queer & Trans and migrants who continually pave the way for all of us.

I am not a voice for anyone - I don't need to be. None of us are voiceless - I believe we all hold our own set of truths, privileges, and gifts - how we use them to collectively bring us closer to not only reimagining a new possibility outside of white cishetero patriarchy, but living in that new possibility. We all have something to add to that fight.

About VALS
Each term, Bennington offers a program of five-six lectures by visiting arts professionals: artists, curators, historians and critics, selected to showcase the diversity of contemporary art practices. Designed to enhance a broader and deeper knowledge of various disciplines in the Visual Arts and to stimulate campus dialogue around topical issues of contemporary art and culture, these thematically connected presentations offer students the opportunity to explore ideas from multiple perspectives over the course of the term.

The theme for VALS this term is Looking Forward: Disrupting and Reimagining.