What makes up Google’s project for Latin American art?

To celebrate the National Hispanic Heritage Month which is celebrated from september 15 to october 15 in the United States, the multinational technology Enterprise, Google, allied with 50 organizations across the country to create the biggest collection of latinamerican art, culture and history. Even though the National Hispanic Heritage Month has already passed, the project is still accessible online. 

The collection is part of the “Google Arts & Technology” platform with the title “Latino Cultures in the U.S.”. This project was made to show the contributions made by the Latino community to the United States’ culture, by presenting artworks all the way back from the 1500’s until today. According to Google, these works have been poorly represented on the web and outside of it. The project aimed to change this. The collection features all types of Latin American art, from painting and sculpture, to music and dance. It highlights the importance of cultural production in society as a whole, and therefore it shows the influence that these Latin citizens have had in the United States and in the world. 

Google aimed to change the lack of representation they saw in Latin American art, particularly that produced in the United States

“Latino Cultures in the U.S.” is conformedof 4300 archives and artworks, as well as 90 multimedia exhibits in English and Spanish. Among the archives, there are Diego Rivera’s murals depicting the experience of latinos in the United Sates, virtual tours of historical sites with latino presence like Little Havana in Miami and Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. There are also profiles of prominent Latin figures who played an important role in U.S. history like César Chavez, Dolores Huerta and Sonia Sotomayor.

The platform contains multimedia content in English and in Spanish explaining the influence of Latin culture in the U.S.

The Archive of American Television made a contribution to the collection with an exhibit about latinamericans in television, where they present interviews with actors such as Héctor Elizondo, Edward James Olmos, Ricardo Montálban and Gina Rodríguez, who talk about the challenges of working in the United States’ media, being typecast and the lack of a significant latin representation in the media.

The collection can be found in the Google Arts & Technology platform and it has been announced that it will be permanently there so it can be enjoyed at any time.This reminds us that Hispanic hertitage is always a part of U.S. culture and of the cultural scene of the world. 

Latin American Post | Alan Rosas González

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