Erasure and Persistence

Harold Mendez’s texturally lush, emotionally simmering show at ICA LA takes its title from the first line of a poem by Juan Felipe Herrera: “Let us gather in a flourishing way.” Following this gentle, affirming invitation, Herrera’s poem oscillates seamlessly between English and Spanish, exemplifying the accretive construction of a single, continuous voice. Mendez’s practice centers on just such a forging of identity from disparate languages and discrete histories.