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WXOX @ Folklife 2025 STEPHEN VELASQUEZ & DENISE SANDOVAL Stephen Velasquez & Denise Sandoval, Curators Corazón Y Vida: Lowriding Culture Smithsonian National Museum of American History Interviewed by Max Selby WXOX Next Wave Academy July 5, 2025 Corazón Y Vida: Lowriding Culture in the United States / La Cultura de Lowriding in Los Estados Unidos Lowriding is a quintessential Latino/a tradition started by Mexican American communities in the 1940s to assert their space and empower their lives. This unique car-making tradition is infused with Latino/a soul, entrepreneurship, and ingenuity. A mix of innovation and tradition, lowriding is an affirmation of identity and values that have reached beyond the United States to influence popular culture worldwide. Lowrider Culture in the United States / Cultura Lowrider en los Estados Unidos is a new exhibition from the Smithsonian that highlights a diverse selection of vibrant photographs and prints depicting lowrider culture and iconography while documenting its styles in the United States. This traveling exhibition is based on research from the Smithsonian and includes objects from lowriding art and trade. Audiences encounter a multifaceted picture of the American experience by learning about the Latino/a community identity through the lens of lowriding and its rich stories of creativity, family, and tradition. Lowrider Culture examines the history of the post-World War II Mexican American community and the cultural expressions of lowriding through technology, innovation, and style. The national tour of Lowrider Culture in the United States / Cultura Lowrider en los Estados Unidos launched in September 2025 and will continue through July 2029. THE CURATORS L. Stephen Velasquez is a Curator for the Division of Home and Community Life, National Museum of American History.   He was co-curator for the exhibitions Food: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000 and the exhibit, Many Voices, One Nation, as well as the newly opened Entertainment Nation.  Past projects include the Bracero Oral History Project and associated traveling exhibit, Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964; the exhibit Mexican Treasures at the Smithsonian; as well as AZUCAR! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz; A Collector’s Vision of Puerto Rico; and Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian, as well as many other projects.   Stephen is a Lecturer in Mueum Studies at the Corchran School of the Arts and Design.  He holds a master’s degree in Anthropology from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Missouri. Dr. Denise Sandoval, a professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge, is among the most prominent scholars of lowrider culture.  For nearly two decades, she has explored the impact of lowriders on American culture in publications and exhibitions.  She curated Best in Low: Lowrider Icons of the Street and Show at the Petersen Automotive Museum (2024–2025) and edited a special issue of Lowrider magazine that focuses on women. Exhibit Website: Corazón Y Vida: Lowriding Culture National Museum of American History website The National Musueum of American History on Facebook The National Musueum of American History on Instagram The National Museum of American History on YouTube Folklife 2025 Episode List If you have any questions please e-mail nextwave@artxfm.com

           

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