WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – A new exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History focuses on the culture behind a unique type of car, lowriders.
On the museum’s third floor, two rooms hold an entire community, a group of people who tell their story through their cars.
The exhibit is called Corazón y Vida – Lowrider Culture.
“We wanted to really highlight Mexican American history, and we did that through car culture,” said Stephen Velasquez, the exhibit’s curator.
It focuses on the 80-year tradition of car clubs and members designing and showing off lowriders as a form of expression.
Corazón y Vida title translates to “heart and life”.
Following World War II, Americans embraced car culture as a symbol of the American Dream, but some Mexican American communities took it a step further, combining art, religion, history, and family into a culture still alive today.
“It’s more than just a paint job and chrome,” Velasquez said. “There’s a whole community behind it.”
The exhibit shows off that community through artifacts, videos, and pictures. The stars of the show are two Chevy Impalas: Gypsy Rose and El Rey, classic examples of the bright, glossy works of art lowriders.
But behind the shine, it’s the many photographs that kick the exhibit into high gear, generations of moments captured in time bringing Corazón y Vida come to life.
“We set out to create a small archive,” Velasquez said.
He said his team looked around the country for young Latino photographers who have been documenting their lowriding community.
To celebrate the exhibit’s opening, the museum hosted a lowrider car show in its driveway Saturday.
“It is really kind of about that unity,” Velasquez said.
The exhibit will remain on display at the museum for two years. There is also a traveling version now making its way across the U.S.
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