Story Behind the Logos

In 2017, the curator of Arte del Corazón, Roberto Sandoval, worked with Kyra Avala, a student from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) to design the exhibition logo–the first in NTID Dyer Arts Center history. The logo was designed in a way to capture the essence of the exhibition and memorialize the Hispanic/Latina/Latino/Latine/Latinx Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Hard of Hearing, and Late Deafened (DDBDDHHLD) artists and their artwork. In 2021, La Descolonización del Arte: A Celebration of Our Raíces curatorial team decided to create another exhibition logo. This section of the webpage will provide you information with a quick tour through the history of the two logo designs and the designers’ biographies who designed them.

[Image description (from left to right): Logo for La Descolonización del Arte: A Celebration of Our Raíces. The logo consists of a golden sun with beaming sun rays with orange at the tip behind an artwork of four black/dark brown, outstretched cupped hands that represent trees; the fingers and palms have light brown and peach undertones. Slightly scattered above the palms are rhombuses that represent leaves in various mixtures of colors of green, aquamarine, teal, yellow, and red. Below the symbolic trees are light brown roots and a light brown hand holding hands with a black/dark brown hand to represent a connection. Next to the logo at the right is "La Descolonización del Arte" in capitalized and aquamarine font and below this is "A Celebration of Our Raíces" in capitalized and warm, gold font.]

The logo demonstrates artistic decolonization while celebrating our raíces (roots) as we do not come from a single story. Our community roots flow from all over Latin America and the Caribbean and thrive in bond then burst into diamonds high over the warm golden sun and its rays. The golden sun celebrates our culture while its rays represent life, light, and love. The multicolored diamonds radiate the warm colors of red (blood through our veins), yellow (the sun), and teal (water, Earth, sky, and stone) which reflect our multiple identities, heritages, lived experiences, and cultural practices. The hands are rooted in a collaborative and collective stand against colonialism and imperialism. The hands are also holding fast to uplift all members of this community.

[ID: A smiling, brown-skinned Asian-Latino, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses and a maroon polo shirt. He is pictured against a white background]

Name: Fabian Luna
Role: Logo Designer
Nationality/Ethnicity: Mexipino (Mexican and Filipino)
Residence: Holtville, California
Pronouns: He/Him/His

Fabian Luna identifies as Deaf Mexipino (Mexican and Filipino). He was born and raised in Holtville, California. As a freelance artist, Fabian possesses a broad range of skills in traditional and digital arts such as graphic design, visual effects, and 3D modeling; his specialty is Animation. He graduated from the California State University of Northridge with a Bachelor of Art in Animation.

[Image description: An Indigenous figure in black outline, wearing Indigenous attire and tied up hair. A heart in red is painted on their chest. Closed eyes and mouth agape with red paint on their hands. In front and around the figure is a swirling splatter of green and red paint. “Arte del Corazón” is in black font in one of the swirls near the hands.]

The logo demonstrates a Mesoamerican man with his red heart and red paint on his hands while signing “art.” The historic region of Mesoamerica locates the modern-day countries of northern Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize to southern Mexico. The exhibition titled Arte del Corazón (Art of the Heart) had many layers of meaning. "Corazón'' is a powerful cultural icon in our community. Many of the works shown represented the artists’ journey in decolonizing and reclaiming their cultural identity. As their creations came straight from the corazón, the exhibition allowed them to share their stories; the influence of political opinions; indigenous heritage; cultural and religious imagery; and counter-narratives as a form of resistance.

[Image description: A brown-skinned person with long, brown hair looking to the side; wearing a brown, long-sleeve sweater with shoulder exposed. One hand on top of head and the other hand on chest. The background is filled with sunlight and trees.]

Name: Kyra Nicolasa Ayala
Role: Logo Designer
Nationality/Ethnicity: Salvadoran-Mexican
Residence: La Mesa, California
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Kyra Nicolasa Ayala identifies as Deaf Salvadoran-Mexican. She was born in Hollywood, California, and raised in Southern California and Oregon. At three years old, Kyra started learning art skills from her father. She graduated from the National Institute of Technical for the Deaf with an Associate of Applied Science in 3D Graphic Technology. Kyra is a freelance artist.