Rafa Esparza

Esparza also collaborated with artist Cassils on Independence Day 2020 to create "In Plain Sight", which was a artwork that supported abolition of mass immigrant detention, incarnation and the unfair prejudice that was displayed for immigrants, especially across the border. The project was deliberately planned to be broken down by 5 parts. First being the skytyping fleets that displayed messages over governmental institutions and facilities such as detention facilities, immigration courts, borders, and other sites of historic relevance. The steps that followed this display of art was "an interactive website, an anthology docuseries, accessible actions for the public to take to join the movement against immigrant detention, and cultural partnerships producing arts-related education and engagement."

In 2020, Rafa Esparza collaborated with Eamon Ore-Giron and Gala Porras-Kim for the Art Basel 2020; their exhibition was also featured at Commonwealth and Council gallery. This exhibition featured Esparza’s paintings that was created on adobe- his artwork was dedicated to confront white supremacy through the history of colonial violence. While also connecting to indigenous people of the Americas and their connection to the land. Esparza created a painting of his older brother that showed him in a nostalgic rendition from a pre-Instagram photograph.

From January 20 - March 3, 2018, at the Commonwealth and Council gallery, Rafa Esparza, in collaboration with Beatriz Cortez and other artists, had an exhibition named Pasado mañana- meaning from Spanish “the day after tomorrow.” This exhibition features artwork based on the foundation of immigrant labor that is used to create a future among subjects such as race, class, and culture to become possible.

Esparza was included in the 2017 Whitney Biennial. For the exhibition he created "igure Ground: Beyond the White Field"; a gallery made of adobe bricks inside the museum. The adobe room, which was made with dirt from Los Angeles River, was used as an exhibition space by other LA-based Latino artists that Esparza invited to participate. In 2018, Esparza's collaborative exhibition and performance event de la calle was his first solo museum presentation at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Esparza used the museum's gallery for exhibition, production, and collaboration, where selected local artists and nightlife personalities worked collaboratively to produce works to display at the museum and for a performance. The performance, *a la calle*, took place in the Fashion district of downtown Los Angeles Santee Alley.

For his participation in the 2016 Made in L.A. Biennial at the Hammer Museum, Esparza created "Tierra," a field of adobe bricks created from dirt from Los Angeles. The artist's sculptures and objects were buried and unearthed in Elysian Park, a historical site of early Latinx communities' displacement.

In 2013, Esparza performed chino, indio, negro with Sebastian Hernandez at Perform Chinatown 2013. chino, indio, negro was performed near the site of the Chinese Massacre of 1871 in response to that event. That same year, Esparza performed El Hoyo with his brother, Beto Esparza, and fellow artist Nick Duran. El Hoyo was performed at Human Resources and reflected Esparza's identity as a queer, working-class son of immigrants.

Esparza performed in Dorian Wood's "O" video. In August 2013, Esparza and Wood performed "CONFUSION IS SEX #3" at the Sepulveda Wildlife Basin. The piece was the third installment of a performance art series organized by Dawn Kasper, Oscar Santos, and Dino Dinco. The Sepulveda Wildlife Basin, the location of "CONFUSION IS SEX #3," has in the past been used as a homeless encampment and a location for gay men to cruise for sex. In 2012, part of it was bulldozed by the US Corps of Army Engineers.

Rafael Esparza (born 1981) is an American performance artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. His work includes performances that present a toll on his physical well being and installations constructed out of adobe bricks. Esparza often works with collaborators, including members of his family.