Opening Reception: November 2025 Exhibitions

Join us to celebrate the opening of MOCA’s new exhibitions Living with Injury and Fernando Palma Rodríguez: Tlazohuelmanaz (offering of love) with food by Reservation Sensation, drinks by Brick Box Brewery, and music!

Come early from 5pm – 6:30pm for a Conversation with Jane Kay & Dr. Lydia Otero who will discuss their reporting and scholarship around contamination and contested landscapes in Tucson, in conjunction with the themes explored in Living with Injury.

About the exhibitions

Living With Injury pays homage to the predominantly Mexican American community members who fought some of Tucson’s most powerful defense industries responsible for contaminating water sources, causing severe illness within communities on the southside of Tucson in the 1980s. The exhibition invites community members to participate in various remembering acts and collective history making, both to acknowledge damages visited upon the community by environmental racism, and to celebrate the triumphs and insights of southside organizers. Curated by Mexican American Heritage and History Museum Co-Director Alisha Vasquez and Dr. Sunaura Taylor of the Disabled Ecologies Lab at UC Berkeley, and featuring work by local artists and researchers who have lasting connections to this history including Tucsonense artist Alex! Jimenez; southside turned Chilango journalist and filmmaker Franc Contreras; and community researcher and scholar Dr. Denise Moreno Ramírez.

Tlazohuelmanaz (offering of love) is a solo exhibition by artist Fernando Palma Rodríguez that features a series of newly commissioned robotic sculptures that interweave art, nature, and technology. The first solo museum exhibition of Rodríguez’s work to be presented in the context of the United States-Mexico Borderlands, Tlazohuelmanaz explores shared issues like climate, water, and the care for Indigenous knowledge, which impact both the artist’s home and community in Milpa Alta, Mexico as well as communities in the Sonoran Desert. 

Accessibility Information 

Accessible parking near a ramp is available on the south side of McCormick St., in front of MOCA’s main entrance. MOCA has an accessible restroom in the lobby and all exhibition spaces are ADA compliant. MOCA is committed to providing access to the arts for everyone; for additional information or for accessibility requests, please call MOCA’s front desk at 520.624.5019 or email info@moca-tucson.org.

Image Credit: Fernando Palma Rodríguez, Tocihuapapalutzin (2012).