Lxs Dos

Christian was born and raised in Ciudad Juárez and grew up painting. In 2013, Christian received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the University of Texas at El Paso.{{Cite web |title=LOS DOS {{!}} Amor Por Juarez |url=https://amorporjuarez.org/art/mixed-media/los-dos |access-date=2024-09-21 |language=en-US}} She also went to Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla to study Textile Design.{{Cite web |title=On the Streets of El Paso and Juarez, "Sister Cities" Art Project Pays Tribute to Border Communities |url=https://remezcla.com/features/culture/interview-los-dos/ |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Remezcla |date=7 July 2016 |language=en-US}}

Ramon was born and raised in the Philippines.{{Cite book |last1=Ehrig |first1=Stephan |title=Exploring the Transnational Neighbourhood: Perspectives on Community-Building, Identity and Belonging |last2=Jung |first2=Britta C. |last3=Schaffer |first3=Gad |publisher=Leuven University Press |year=2022 |isbn=9789462703483 |pages=12, 235}} Prior to co-creating Lxs Dos, he was a DJ and had not formally attended an art school. In 2022, he received his Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso to "create opportunities for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander), LGBTQ+, and other artists who have been historically underrepresented and exploited in museums, galleries, and art history."{{Cite news |last=Silva |first=Nico |date=July 3, 2023 |title=Talking with El Paso Artist and Curator Ramon Cardenas |url=https://glasstire.com/2023/07/03/talking-with-el-paso-artist-and-curator-ramon-cardenas/ |access-date=September 21, 2024 |work=Glasstire: Texas visual art}} After participating in the Smithsonian’s Latino Museum Studies Program in 2022, he began his role as Assistant Curator of Practice for the Stanlee & Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts.{{Cite web |title=Ramon Cardenas |url=https://www.utep.edu/rubin/about/ramon-cardenas-bio.html |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=www.utep.edu}}

Lxs Dos started collaborating by circulating posters and stickers within the El Paso and Juárez transborder area before moving onto larger scale projects in the 2010s. In 2015, the El Paso's Museum and Cultural Affairs Department funded Make Shift to promote community-based, Mexican-American cultural murals that represented the day-to-day lives of El Segundo Barrio residents, a historical neighborhood in El Paso. From Make Shift, Lxs Dos created their most well known mural, Sister Cities/Ciudades Hermanas. Reminiscent of Frida Kahlo’s The Two Fridas, the mural is regarded by the artists and critics to be a symbol of unity across the U.S.-Mexican border, an homage to the flow of people crossing the border back and forth, and the women of Juárez.{{Cite news |last=Spechler |first=Diana |date=April 8, 2021 |title=Art Without Borders |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/opinion/el-paso-art-murals.html |work=The New York Times}}{{cite web | title=Resistance Through Assistance: Human Beings Who Care Helping Human Beings in Need | website=Pulitzer Center | date=2021-10-24 | url=https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/resistance-through-assistance-human-beings-who-care-helping-human-beings-need | access-date=2025-05-19}}{{cite web | title=Sister Cities Connected by Community, Separated by a Wall | website=Pulitzer Center | date=2021-10-29 | url=https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/sister-cities-connected-community-separated-wall | access-date=2025-05-19}} Sister Cities/Ciudades Hermanas is also the cover of the academic text, Exploring the Transnational Neighbourhood: Perspectives on Community-Building, Identity and Belonging, which features a chapter dedicated to analyzing Sister Cities/Ciudades Hermanas's homage to U.S.-Mexico transnationalism.

Their artwork typically spotlights historically marginalized working-class, migrant people from the U.S.-Mexico border. Works like Operation Hold the Line highlight the tensions between immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and U.S. law enforcement over the body of a dark-skinned woman.{{Cite web |last=Carbajal |first=Veronica |date=2024-12-12 |title=Lxs Dos: Ingenious and Indigenous |url=https://www.artseverywhere.ca/lxs-dos-ingenious-and-indigenous/ |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=ArtsEverywhere |language=en-CA}}

Lxs Dos have also been outspoken advocates in the local El Paso/Juárez artistic community, denouncing censorship in their work when trying to depict authentic representations of the borderlands.{{Cite book |last1=Sharma |first1=Manisha |title=The Routledge companion to decolonizing art, craft, and visual culture education |last2=Alexander |first2=Amanda |date=2023 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-032-04015-8 |series=Routledge companions |location=New York, NY |pages=116–128}} From June 26 to June 30, 2017, Lxs Dos hosted a community art workshops for middle and high school students in El Paso titled "Move Your Mind! Understanding Migration and Immigration Through the Arts" as part of their University of Texas at El Paso exhibition, [https://www.utep.edu/rubin/exhibitions/past/lxs-dos.html "LxsDos: Pásele, Pásele."]{{Cite web |last=Velasquez |first=Gaby |title=Art duo Lxs Dos host immigration workshops |url=https://www.theprospectordaily.com/2017/07/05/art-duo-lxs-dos-host-immigration-workshops/ |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=The Prospector}}

• Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky by David Bowles{{cite book | last=Bowles | first=David | title=Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky | publisher=Cinco Puntos Press | date=2018-05-15 | isbn=978-1-941026-73-1 | page=}}
• Coatlicue Girl by Gris Muñoz{{cite book | last=Muñoz | first=Gris | title=Coatlicue Girl | publisher=Flowersong Books | date=2020-02-13 | isbn=978-1-7338092-4-5 | page=}}

• La Guardiana is a protector of immigrants, commissioned by Rage Against the Machine. It was installed at Coachella 2022.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-16 |title=Coachella 2022: Inspired by Rage Against the Machine, this couple created a guardian for the festival |url=https://www.pressenterprise.com/2022/04/15/coachella-2022-inspired-by-rage-against-the-machine-this-couple-created-a-guardian-for-the-festival/ |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=Press Enterprise |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Coachella también es un festival de arte y este año exhiben una escultura mexicana |url=https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/coachella-tambien-es-un-festival-de-arte-y-este-ano-exhiben-una-escultura-mexicana/ |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=El Universal |language=es | trans-title="Coachella is also an art festival and this year exhibits a Mexican sculpture}}{{cite web | last=Guzman | first=Richard | title=Coachella 2022: Inspired by Rage Against the Machine, this couple created a guardian for the festival | website=Los Angeles Daily News | date=2022-04-16 | url=https://www.dailynews.com/2022/04/15/coachella-2022-inspired-by-rage-against-the-machine-this-couple-created-a-guardian-for-the-festival/ | access-date=2025-05-19}}{{cite web | last=Perez | first=Eliana | title=Coachella 2022: Festival art displays messages of immigrant resiliency | website=The Desert Sun | date=2022-04-23 | url=https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/music/coachella/2022/04/22/coachella-2022-festival-art-displays-messages-immigrant-resiliancy/7403835001/ | access-date=2025-05-19|publisher=Palm Springs Desert Sun}}{{cite web | first=Molly | last=Wilcox | title=We Went for the Tunes But Stayed for the Installations at Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2022 | website=Cultured Mag | date=2022-04-21 | url=https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2022/04/21/we-went-for-the-tunes-but-stayed-for-the-installations-at-coachella-music-and-arts-festival-2022 | access-date=2025-05-19}}

{{Reflist}}

[https://glasstire.com/2023/07/03/talking-with-el-paso-artist-and-curator-ramon-cardenas/ Interview In Glasstire (Texas visual art magazine)]

Category:Wikipedia Student Program

Category:American muralists

Category:Artists from El Paso, Texas

Category:Art duos