Chasing Octavio Medellín: San Antonio Artist and Texas Arts Maverick and Digital Exhibition Plan of Chasing Octavio Medellín Exhibition for the Witte Museum's Visible Storage

This project is a collaboration between myself and Curator Amy Fulkerson of The Witte Museum San Antonio. Curating and producing a digital exhibition on Texas Artist Octavio Medellín (based on research conducted over the last three years in Mérida, San Antonio, and Dallas) will be presented in digital applications to reclaim Octavio Medellín as an artist and cultural bearer in San Antonio, and will subsequently be presented by The Witte on their website. The collaboration aims to produce an experience that bridges art, history, technology, and community to uplift the representation of San Antonio/Texas Artist Octavio Medellín. This work will deepen the scholarship in Maya studies, Art History, and Mexican American History. The digital exhibition (tentatively titled Chasing Octavio Medellín) will open online to relaunch The Witte Museum's redesigned website and then move into a permanent collection in their new Visible Storage platform open to the public. Covid-19 has brought to the forefront for museums, researchers, and educators that digital media is a powerful tool to keep the community engaged and thriving in that engagement. This thesis focuses on Octavio Medellín’s early life and career in San Antonio to reclaim his recognition as a significant Texas artist and place in art history and San Antonio history. The research conducted and collected has informed the materials included in the digital exhibition and the overall themes and objectives of the project. The journey of Medellín’s life serves as a tool for analyzing identity formation for San Antonio residents as his story parallels many whose families fled Mexico after the Revolution.