Mision San Buenaventura 1935 - 1942

Curator: This detailed pencil drawing is titled *Mision San Buenaventura*, created by James Jones between 1935 and 1942. It captures the facade of the California mission with remarkable precision. Editor: It has a stark, almost clinical feel to it, doesn't it? The lack of shading makes it read more like an architectural blueprint than a lived-in space. It’s devoid of any human presence. Curator: Precisely. I see this lack of presence as significant. The drawing comes a moment when these missions had to be actively promoted in popular memory to serve political agendas, specifically the politics of erasure of indigenous contributions in the cultural landscape. This academic approach is deliberate. Editor: And perhaps romanticized in its representation of that era? It begs the question: Who gets to define whose culture and whose histories get archived and celebrated through artistic production such as this? Curator: That's an astute observation. The aesthetic is deeply intertwined with the colonial narrative and the power dynamics inherent in depicting such structures, especially since it has the date written down. Consider its intended audience. Was it intended as a document or more to highlight this architecture in a way which romanticized it? Editor: Well, beyond the drawing's undeniable technical skill, the medium is revealing. A pencil drawing creates an effect that is almost an industrial recording of the site stripped bare, doesn’t evoke warmth. It's not necessarily inviting. Curator: Yes, its strength and power comes through in these sharp angles. The emphasis of vertical lines speaks to a very structured power and system. Editor: A structure, both physically and ideologically, absolutely. So much encoded information is embedded in something as seemingly innocuous as this architectural rendering. Curator: Indeed, engaging with artworks like "Mision San Buenaventura" is to engage with the multi-layered, often conflicting histories they embody and evoke. Editor: Leaving us with lingering questions about what stories art chooses to tell, and, importantly, those it actively silences or leaves in the margins.