Work Sample
The work sample found on this page focuses on the November 2021 Chicago Lit & Luz Festival through a video clip and photos.
First, a five-minute clip from the Live Magazine Show, followed by a sample of images from the in-person events. Not included are the five virtual programs, including a keynote by 21st US Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera. Those programs and more are found on our YouTube channel.
Select literary works created and/or translated for the festival are found on this page.
Five-minute video clip: Pergentino José (MX) and Santiago X (US): 50:40-55:40
This piece was one of five collaborations that debuted at the Live Magazine Show, the signature event of the Lit & Luz Festival.
Ndubdo'. Lágrima de tierra / Tear of earth by Pergentino José y X
Esta pieza explora la relación de los pueblos originarios de América con la tierra y el entorno a partir de un ejercicio lúdico de traducción e interpretación. Un texto en zapoteco, del que parte toda la colaboración, fue traducido al español, luego al inglés y finalmente a la lengua koasati. Mientras se escuchan los textos y se proyectan una serie de imágenes en pantalla, los artistas realizan diversas acciones en el escenario.
This piece explores the relationship of the original peoples of America with the land and the environment through a playful exercise of translation and interpretation. A text in Zapotec, from which the entire collaboration departed, was translated into Spanish, then into English, and finally into the Koasati language. While the texts are listened to and a series of images are projected on the screen, the artists carry out different actions on stage.
The original poem by Pergentino José is found below in the Zapotec and Spanish and also in Zapotec and English.
In-person programs throughout the week:
Monday, November 1
An Artist Talk with Chantal Peñalosa
Logan Center for the Arts
A presentation of recent and on-going works by 2021 Lit & Luz Festival participant and visual artist, Chantal Peñalosa, hosted by the Open Practice Committee. Peñalosa’s research based practice stems from small gestures and interventions in everyday life, which are meant to expound upon notions of labour, waiting and delay. In this presentation, Peñalosa spoke of her use of repetition, a crucial element in her process, and how it functions as an allusion to the absurdity, weathering, and alienating effects of work.
Favorite Poems: Día de muertos
Comfort Station, 2579 N Milwaukee Ave
At this annual event, Lit & Luz participants from Chicago and Mexico read their favorite poems and offer explanations of the poems’ significance to them. This edition celebrates Dia de muertos and poems moved between Spanish and English. Seating was limited, but a live stream of the program was available on the lawn outside the building—as pictured next to Comfort Station’s Dia de muertos ofrenda installation. Featuring Lydia Saravia, Nathan Hoks, Alejandro Jimenez-Flores, Ruben Quesada, and Pergentino José and hosted by Daniel Borzutzky.
November 2
A Reading and Conversation with Pergentino José
At and in partnership with Instituto Cervantes and Loyola Chicago
Join us for a reading and conversation with Oaxacan author Pergentino José, author of Red Ants, translated by Thomas Bunstead. He was interviewed by Loyola University professor Dr. Héctor García Chávez. In Spanish with live audio translation.
A Screening and Conversation with Daniel Monroy Cuevas
At and in partnership with UNAM Chicago and ACRE
Daniel Monroy Cuevas is a filmmaker and artist born in Mexico. He studied audiovisual arts in Guadalajara as well as cinema at the Vancouver Film School in Canada. Monroy Cuevas’s work has been exhibited widely. After his presentation, ACRE’s Kate Bowen interviewed him on stage.
November 3
A Reading and Conversation with Jazmina Barrera
Logan Center for the Arts. In partnership with the UChicago Translation Studies Department
Join us for a reading and conversation with Mexican author, editor, and translator, Jazmina Barrera. Jazmina is the author of the book of essays Cuerpo extraño (Foreign Body) was awarded the Latin American Voices prize from Literal Publishing in 2013 and most recently Cuaderno de faros / On Lighthouses by Jazmina Barrera, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney (Two Lines Press). Jazmina was in conversation with Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas, author and UChicago professor.
Narración en vivo: Estructura
The Hideout
This Spanish-language live story telling event was in partnership with Chicago Architecture Biennial and the Hideout
¿Cómo creas espacios colectivos y/o compartidos? En este evento de narración en vivo y en persona, escucharemos a arquitectos, diseñadores, artistas y legisladores mientras investigan su experiencia con espacios colectivos y compartidos: sus méritos y cómo impactan los entornos construidos, naturales y sociales. Con Paola Aguirre, Pergentino José, Chantal Peñalosa, y Carlos Robles-Shanahan. Rafael Robles es el anfitrión de este evento del Festival Lit & Luz, presentado en asociación con la Bienal de Arquitectura de Chicago. En español. Photo: Mario Gastelum
How Things Do Things with Other Things (and People). Four Sculptors Discuss the Agency of Matter
At and in partnership with Chicago Art Department
A conversation centered on sculpture and ideas related to emerging paradigms of new materialisms (NM)—an umbrella term that organizes radical epistemological shifts taking place across domains as wildly divergent as feminism, material culture, philosophy, and environmental science. Participants included Alberto Aguilar, Sebastián Bruno-Harris, Paola Cabal. Moderators: Esteban King, Independent Curator, Georgina Valverde (also participating as a visual artist).
Photo: Beth Rooney
November 4
At and in partnership with the Logan Center for the Arts
The 2021 Live Magazine Show at the Logan Center for the Arts included: Jazmina Barrera (MX) and Julietta Cheung (US); Rocío Cerón (MX) and Krista Franklin (US); Pergentino José (MX) and Santiago X (US); Daniel Monroy Cuevas (MX) and Amanda Goldblatt (US) and Jordan Hicks (US); Chantal Peñalosa (MX) and Jose-Luis Moctezuma (US); and musical director, Jacquelyn Carmen Guerrero (CQQCHIFRUIT)
Photo: Beth Rooney
November 5
Lit & Luz Book Club Presents: Jazmina Barrera and Pergentino José. With special guest host Ignacio Sánchez Prado
At and in partnership with Instituto Cervantes and Pilsen Community Books
This multilingual conversation on contemporary Mexican literature with two of its brightest stars, Jazmina Barrera and Pergentino José. Hosted by Dr. Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado, Professor of Spanish, Latin American Studies, and Film and Media Studies, Washington University and Book Club founder Miguel Jiménez. With live audio translation from Spanish to English by Gerónimo Sarmiento Cruz.
November 6
Un Taller de Ficción con Pergentino José
At and in partnership with Rudy Lozano Public Library
A Spanish-language writing workshop with author Pergentino José
Lit & Luz Closing Event featuring Music from AlgoRitmo and DJ Roxyo Sounds
At and in partnership with Hungry Brain
We closed out a week of Lit & Luz Festival events with special performances by Chicago-based jazz project AlgoRitmo featuring Peter “Maestro” Vale, leader/percussionist; Alex Santilli, drums/percussion; Natalie Lande, saxophone; and Brenden Cabrera piano/effects. Vocalo DJ Roxyo Sounds capped the night. (Poet Rocío Cerón was supposed to perform with the band, but could not attend the festival due to a medical emergency.)
