NC Artist Offers Free Art Classes To Give Back To The Latino Community
For a lot of people, living the past two years amidst a pandemic has negatively affected our mental health. Antonio Alanis is an artist who recognized this impact specifically among the LatinX community where he lives in Durham.
Spectrum News says a survey done by the CDC showed that Hispanic adults experience higher symptoms of stress than any other group. After seeing the impact, Alanis wanted to help his community. He is now offering free bilingual art classes to LatinX kids and adults who need an outlet for stress and anxiety.
The free classes are part of his Xochipilli Painting Project done in collaboration with the Durham Arts Council.
This is one of his recent tweets, encouraging people to attend the free class:
I’ll be teaching how to paint this piñata on Thursday. Join me! pic.twitter.com/HffL3ljfNa
— Antonio Alanís (@antoniodjalanis) November 30, 2021
Alanis told Spectrum News that he is in no way a therapist of any kind, but he says, “I am a huge believer that art can create an ability of feeling safer, [an] ability of making sense of what is happening and again centering ourselves through what this new reality has brought to us…”
He also spoke about how art keeps him connected to his roots as an immigrant from Mexico. Alanis said he uses art to express his passion surrounding the injustices within immigration and family separation. He told Spectrum News, “My take on art is to create dialogues that really center our stories and help us understand what it means to be a Latino or LatinX individual.”
Learn more about Durham artist Antonio Alanis and his work here.
Source: Spectrum News
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