The title of our exhibition,  Not So Much in Words: Kinship Citations, borrows from a phrase spoken by David Garcia, the uncle of our collaborator Josh Rios, during a visit to the Smiley Latin American Cemetery in rural Texas. While tending the cemetery grounds, Garcia paused the revving motor of a weed eater to speak with his nephew. As he approached the gravestones, he gestured toward the names inscribed in granite, imparting his knowledge of the genealogical connections among relatives buried at the cemetery. Their conversation turned from the factual aspects of family trees to the lesser discussed conditions of their Mexican ancestors’ lives under the specter of racialized violence. As Garcia recounted anecdotes, he acknowledged how he came to know these and other stories: “Grandpa would always tell us…not so much in words.” His phrasing prompted us to question how our families have communicated the narratives of their lives and those of their elders and ancestors, both verbally and through material and social means. 

Collaborating as the Place as Practice Research Collective, we examine the narratives and histories of our Mexican American and Mexican immigrant families in the Texas Hill Country, South Central Texas, and Northern Mexico. As descendants of families who spoke Spanish, faced socioeconomic barriers to formal education, and migrated from their ancestral homeland, our collective recognizes the written and spoken word as but one modality for acquiring and sharing knowledge across generations and diasporas. Together, we endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of how our relatives have theorized, documented, and conveyed their lived experiences, shared memories, and engaged in creative practices. Our attention requires an attunement to the quiet and the quotidian, and a return to places familiar yet susceptible to change and loss.

A forthcoming exhibition catalog, with an introductory essay and series of nonfiction vignettes authored by Deanna Ledezma, Josh Rios, and Anthony Romero, will be published in April 2026.