Rafa Esparza’s (b. 1981, Los Angeles) multi-faceted, often collaborative practice involves durational performance and sculpture, and considers the impact of migration, colonization, and collective histories on the formation of identity and communities. Esparza’s recent projects have questioned the centrality of artistic authorship, with the artist ceding space and resources to invited artists and cultural producers.
Esparza has performed in a variety of spaces including AIDS Project Los Angeles, Highways Performance Space, REDCAT, Human Resources, SOMArts, Vincent Price Museum, LACE and various public sites throughout Los Angeles. He is the recipient of an Emerging Artist 2014 California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Arts, a 2014 Art Matters grant, and a 2015 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist grant. Esparza was recently part of the 2016 Made in L.A. Biennial at the Hammer Museum and the 2017 Whitney Biennial.
