Fulbright Scholar to be featured at next CHAP event.

The public is invited to Graphic Installations and Social Justice, a presentation by Dr. Ramon Blanco Barrera on Friday, April 5 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Porterville College Theater as part of the Cultural and History Awareness Program (CHAP).

Barrera will talking about some of the large-scale installed graphic works focusing on social justice he’s worked on during his career. These are community-based projects in different places around the world, with the goal of building bridges between people in order to bring positive actions and a call for reflection from local to global.

Barrera is a Fulbright Scholar in Art, Multimedia and Social Justice at College of the Sequoias, and is known in the art world as 233. This prestigious grant and residency are particularly notable as it's a rarity for community colleges to receive a visiting Fulbright scholar award. Out of 75 California awards this year, only two were awarded at community colleges, with many going to institutions like Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC.

Barrera’s extensive academic background includes a Ph.D. in Art & Heritage, two MA’s and two BFA’s, highlighting his interdisciplinary approach and commitment to community engagement through art. He's a faculty member at the University of Seville, Spain in the Department of Fine Arts and has worked extensively with the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

He also serves as an Advisory Board Member for Emergent Art Space in San Francisco.

As a Social Catalyst and Artist, he sends social and political messages, typically about justice concepts and values, intended to inspire people to reflect about their communities, both local and universal.

The presentation is free, and all are welcome. For more information on the event or CHAP, call Jim Entz, 559-791-2257.