Hablamos Juntos brings contemporary Latinx art to young people who may know little about it. Engaging young people in looking at and interpreting this art gives insight into cultural material that is familiar to them. Seeing Latinx images that deal with personal themes, issues of immigration and labor, as well as memories of community life, opens the door for youth to reflect on their own lives.
The artistic expression of the Latino artists has cultural relevance to young writers. They can struggle in an educational system with curriculums that rarely reflect their own heritage or experience. Through the images of the Latinx artists, these young students reflect on the artwork’s aesthetic and cultural content, via personal narratives.
"This project caught us by surprise because we thought it would just be another school assignment. We didn’t realize it would be put into a book. It was more than we expected." —Renaissance High Students
“Seeing Latino images that deal with personal themes, issues of immigration and labor, as well as memories of community life, opens the door for youth to reflect on their own lives." —Dr. Amalia Mesa-Bains, Professor Emerita at California State University Monterey Bay