DIFFRACTING THE NORTH
Diffracting the North
Contemporary Latinx Canadian Experiences and Practices in Film, New Media, and Visual Arts
EDITED BY GABRIELA ACEVES SEPÚLVEDA, ANALAYS ÁLVAREZ HERNÁNDEZ, AND ZAIRA ZARZA
384 pages | 6 x 8 | 45 b&w photos
9781988111926 | PDF
Diffracting the North is the first book to collect and share the experiences and material realities of Latinx Canadian creators of film, media, and visual arts. Bringing together scholars, filmmakers, curators, and artists from a range of Latin American backgrounds, this publication is a forthright and practitioner-driven reflection on the circumstances of producing and disseminating work in a country of predominantly anglophone and francophone environments.
Contributors to the volume explore topics including how Latinx Canadian identity is constructed, negotiated, and expressed, as well as the networks and solidarities that shape Latinx Canadian experiences. These connections include intergenerational mentorships, cross-cultural alliances, and collaborations with Indigenous and other marginalized communities within racialized and gendered frameworks. This volume’s contributions also demonstrate strategies of allyship, from learning with Indigenous artists to fostering hemispheric solidarity across feminist and migrant collectives. Moreover, this book highlights how Latinx Canadian art and film productions and experiences both challenge and enrich Canada’s cultural landscape by intervening in dominant creative, academic, and curatorial practices. It recovers overlooked cultural histories through a series of analytical essays, interviews with artists and curators, and firsthand accounts of artistic practices, all with a focus on cultural efforts to build community.
Amplifying the voices of Latinx Canadians and their communities and filling a critical gap in scholarship, Diffracting the North showcases the significance of Latin American diasporas within Canadian cultural contexts.
"I thoroughly enjoyed reading Diffracting the North. This volume brings together discussions on and interviews with contemporary Latinx-Canadian artists and filmmakers and is an original and valuable contribution to the field. I particularly appreciated the creativity and the variety of written forms (analytical chapters interspersed with interviews, different interview styles, and the thoughtful inclusion of artwork)." –Amanda Holmes, McGill University
"Diffracting the North is the first book to examine Latinx Canadian arts and media and is an original and necessary publication. It challenges previous assumptions about Latinx communities in diaspora, and particularly challenges notions of how Latinx Canadian cultural productions are lived and experienced in Canada and how they engage with Indigeneity. Without a doubt, this is a groundbreaking multi-disciplinary project that spans forms of artistic and media production, curatorial practices, and cultural studies, without neglecting crucial contextual, socio-political issues pertaining to what it means to be Latinx in diaspora, and to what it means to live and create in Canada." –Alessandra Santos, University of British Columbia
"Diffracting the North brings a fresh, contemporary, and intersectional perspective to a strong compendium of Latinx Canadian creative practice and experience. The writing is accessible, which is commendable and accords with the ethos of the volume. It is enjoyable to hear the candid and honest accounts of the lives of the contributors. This work will be useful to a range of fields, especially to anyone researching the lived experiences of Latinx Canadian artists, filmmakers, educators, and other professionals in the cultural sector." –Migueltzinta C. Solís, University of Lethbridge/Iniskim
The e-book version of this publication will be available in Winter 2026.
Contents
Toward the Study of the Understudied: A Candid Preface
Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda, Analays Álvarez Hernández, and Zaira Zarza
Introduction: Surveying Latinx Canadian Interventions in Film, New Media, and Visual Arts
Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda, Analays Álvarez Hernández, and Zaira Zarza
Part One: Constructions
1 refugee reconnaissance: Diasporic Subject Formation, Critical Thinking, and Performance Art on the Path to Citizenship
Francisco-Fernando Granados
2 Xeno Walk: Approaching Feminism as Social Engagement in Montreal’s Public Space
Amanda Gutiérrez
3 Sur les toits Havane: Performing Latinxité at/from Home in Cuba-Québec Film Productions
Darien Sánchez Nicolás
4 Exploring the “Mex-Can” Identity: Film, Belongings, and Migrant Experiences in “El Norte”
Argelia González Hurtado in conversation with Adonay Guerrero Cortés
5 “I Never Really Felt Like a Latin American Artist”: Identity as a Spiritual Journey
Interview with Manuel Piña-Baldoquín by Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda and Zaira Zarza
6 The SBC Gallery’s Shift toward Latin American and Latinx Canadian Art as a Statement
Interview with Nuria Carton de Grammont by Analays Álvarez Hernández and Zaira Zarza
Part Two: Communities
7 Episodios from Southwestern Ontario: Latin American and Latinx Canadian Visual Arts in London
Anahí González and Alena Robin
8 Recordando Movement and Navigating Diaspora
Patricio Dávila and Immony Mèn
9 Defying Borders through Artist Publishing and Other Aesthetic Actions
Lois Klassen in conversation with Daisy Quezada Ureña
10 Cinema as Pluriversal Consciousness: Decolonial Praxes of Film Pedagogy
Sarah Shamash
11 The Body as a Combative Tool in the Art of Claudia Bernal, Helena Martín Franco, and María Ezcurra
Tamara Toledo
12 CUERPO Collective Body: In Search of Expansive Pedagogies
Interview with Guadalupe Martínez by Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda and Analays Álvarez Hernández
Contributors
List of Images
Index
