Mile 25: Haven by the River | Elysian Valley

April 5 | 2pm-5pm PST
$20 suggested donation — or pay what you wish!
The first event in the new River Session series, Kiki’ing by the River, will be led by artist, educator and storyteller Salvador de la Torre. Join us for a reflective workshop of meditation, journaling and drawing along Paayme Paxaayt (LA River). De la Torre will guide the session, inviting participants to find a haven by the river and reflect upon queerness as naturally occurring wherever we look. The workshop will be followed by a conversation between de la Torre and curator Juan Silverio. Participants are encouraged to bring their own sketchbooks and journals.

About the artist
Salvador de la Torre is a Mexican-born Texas-raised artist, educator and storyteller based in Southern California. Their drawing and performance work invoke the power of personal experience and family history to create artworks that exist at the intersection of activism, art production and praxes of self-acceptance.
Their work engages politics of migration, memory, queerness, and gender in ways that remind us of the power and solidarity that can exist in quotidian gestures.
De la Torre’s production opens channels for theorizing vulnerability, intimacy, and proximity as radical undertakings in the space of the borderlands and beyond. In doing so, their work forges complex narratives of joy, struggle, adaptability, exhaustion and tenderness, as counternarratives that assert the wholeness, nuance, and humanity of immigrant communities, and queer subjectivities.
Salvador earned an MFA from California State University, Fullerton and a BA from Texas A&M International University.

About River Sessions
River Sessions is an ongoing series of creative site visits that bring artists and cultural practitioners to the LA River to create public activations engaging themes of environmental justice, resilience, and community storytelling. By centering historically marginalized perspectives, River Sessions foster critical dialogue and deepen cultural connections to the River.
Join us to experience art, culture, and place along the 51 miles of the LA River. In the spirit of Hyonaayn’ar--a Tongva word that means both teacher and student--we will learn about the River’s ephemeral histories and imagine it’s ecological futures, all while exploring diverse and dynamic cultural responses to the watershed.
Watch this 10min documentary featuring our three Indigenous Advisors whose artist residency on the River culminated with: A Day of Joyful Intervention: Returning the River