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As a young person, Katrina Brook Flores didn’t think they wanted to go to college. But since they were a top student in their class, their dad wasn’t about to let them miss the opportunity, so they sought the help of a librarian friend at Carroll College in getting Katrina to fill out the application to UW-Madison. Today, Flores credits their time at UW-Madison and in the Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies Program with helping them to develop as a socially conscious artist. Flores’s aunt, Olivia Garcia, was one of the organizers of La Casa de Esperanza in Waukesha, so it’s fair to say that they come from a family of community advocates, but their own path has been through the arts.
Here at UW-Madison, Flores was inspired by several student groups, including La Colectiva, MEChA, Unión Puertorriqueña, and Wunk Sheek. Flores was active in Wunk Sheek, which they describe as a sister group to MEChA, when both organizations had their offices above the Brother Street Bar on Lake Street. MEChA and Wunk Sheek both embraced strong Indigenous identities, and this resonated with Flores because their family and particularly their father had always emphasized the family’s Indigenous heritage.
A big influence on them at UW-Madison was Debora Kuetzpal Vasquez, a Fine Arts graduate student from San Antonio, who introduced Flores to “El Plan de Santa Barbara,” a founding document of the movement for Chicano Studies, a history of the Brown Berets, and the topics of Indigenous, queer, and African diaspora in Chicanx studies. Together with Vasquez, and under the direction of well-known Chicano artist Malaquías Montoya, Flores participated in painting the wall mural in the Academic Resource Center of Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies in Ingraham Hall (see picture). The mural is a tribute to César Chávez and the struggle for farmworker rights in the U.S. and it has inspired generations of CLS students.
Today, Flores aka El La Katrina/El La Ka is a Chicanx, IndigiQueer multi-practice artist with a focus on storytelling through filmmaking, installation, music, movement and wearable design. After graduating from UW-Madison in 2007, Flores was the founding Arts-In-Education Director for the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives at UW-Madison. They later moved to Chicago and worked at RedMoon Theater and The Dance Center at Columbia College in Chicago. Flores was also active as an artist in the Elastic Arts community in Chicago and served on the curatorial board for the Dark Matter Residency as well as The AfroFuturist Weekend Festival in Chicago. Flores is an award-winning filmmaker and director with their 2022 debut short films Seed Pollinate Bloom and Assaman both of which were produced through their production company, GIT Productions. Now based in Oklahoma, Flores is involved in supporting the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, continuing to work as an artist, and has added DJing to their many talents. They value the opportunity to continue to build community with Indigenous peoples through their work on the Board of the Cooweeja (Cho-way-ja) Native and Indigenous Affinity Group, because, as Flores says, “I’ve been doing this work and living with this skin for a long time.” These days they are deeply interested in thinking about foodways and decolonization. Flores continues work to piece together the Indigenous heritage in their own family by reaching out to family members in Michigan and Ohio for their stories. They hope that Chicanx/e and Latinx/e studies students will continue to have the opportunity to explore their Indigenous ancestry. To that end, Katrina Flores has committed to making an annual donation of $1000.00 to CLS to support activities and events that allow Chicanx/e and Latinx/e studies students to learn about their Indigenous ancestry. She launched that commitment this fall with her first donation.