Before the closing of Éramos Semillas / We Were Seeds this month, engage with this exhibit through a conversation with its Curator, Jose Luis Benavides. Benavides will discuss his curatorial practice and how he connects the work of the exhibiting artists to explore "the theme of “environments” and “the environment” to grapple with the concerns of Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean peoples of different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, and their distinct national identities, languages, and histories.

Jose Luis Benavides is a Latinx and queer photographer, moving image maker, and lecturer at Wilbur Wright College, City Colleges of Chicago. Working primarily with a range of personal archives, his work explores issues relating to gender, sexuality, culture, and migration. His experimental documentary film, Lulu en el Jardín, tells the story of his lesbian mother’s coming out in Chicago during the 1970s. His work has screened at Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, US (2020), and other festivals around the world. As an experimental artist, documentarian, and video art programmer he opens conversations, space and time for diverse perspectives from feminist, queer and Latinx perspectives for the virtual archive SinCintaPrevia.com.