Mision San Jose 

James Jones made this drawing of Mision San Jose with graphite on paper at an unknown date. Jones, who died at only 30 years old, left behind a relatively small body of work, making each piece that much more precious. Here, Jones pictures the facade of Mision San Jose, a Spanish mission established in San Antonio, Texas in 1797. This location, like other Spanish missions, has a fraught history, initially constructed by colonizers to convert Indigenous populations to Catholicism. Jones's stark, stylized rendering captures the physical structure, but leaves space to contemplate the complex narratives of cultural exchange, religious conversion, and colonial power dynamics inherent in the mission's existence. The cracks on the building's facade might be interpreted as symbolic of these historical tensions, and underscore questions of identity and cultural assimilation. Ultimately, Jones invites us to reflect on how historical sites embody both cultural pride and the legacies of colonial history.