by Michael Sedano

From: Labloga.blogspot.com

Resist! What is it good for? Absolutely everything. Saturday evening it was great for a poetry reading and art show that captured the essence of what Resist! looks like: committed, diverse, unrestrained. That was Saturday night’s “Alternative Facts: People of Color Living in White Tides” at CIELO Gallery in South Central Los Angeles.

The event, organized by Luivette Resto and Lilly Flor del Valle, burned a bright candle for a few hours then at the witching hour, expired leaving not a rack behind. Such stuff as dreams are made on. The enormous volume of energy and labor devoted to those few enchanted hours illustrate commitment in its most personal form, time.

Luivette and Lilly Flor, who have day jobs and kids, carved out hours to talk about what, how, when, who, details and ideas. The team put out calls for artists and poets. Designed the show and curated the submissions, designed the catalog. The day before, they hung the art show. Early Saturday they laid out vittles, dotted the last “i”, then waited to see if anyone would turn up. It was a solid house and ¡que lástima! that you missed it.

CIELO Galleries/Studios demonstrates a second form of commitment: money and space. Gallerist Skira Martínez lives in the gallery, so she is opening her home to art, poetry, and gente. The crowd for “Alternative Facts” was well-behaved and only a few had departed before The Bloody Gypsys’ final pounding chord closed the evening. It is encouraging that people came to be part of it.

That Skira Martínez made her space available at no charge to the organizers (nor did the gallery claim a share of art sales) reflects the non-alternative fact of commitment found in CIELO Galleries/Studios’ self-description as “a multifunctional/multifaceted art space/home in South Central LA that is whatever it needs to be at any given time.” Poetry of resistance was what needed to be this evening. Read Rest of Article Here