Sarah Rafael Garcia brings “SanTana’s Fairy Tales” to the Community Artists’ Collective for an exhibition opening with a  reception Saturday, October 19, from 3 to 5 p.m.

Garcia, a writer, traveler and arts educator born in Brownsville, Texas, has created contemporary fairy tales and fables from community-based narratives representing the history and stories of Mexican/Mexican-American residents of Santa Ana, Calif., (inspired by Grimms’ Fairy Tales).

The multi-media installation, created by Garcia in collaboration with local visual, musical and performance artists, presents bilingual single-story zines, a fully illustrated published book, an ebook and a large format classical book with graphic art by Sol Art Radio’s Carla Zarate.

Stories include “The Carousel’s Lullaby,” “Zoraida and Marisol,” “Just a House,” “Hector and Graciela,” (an homage to Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel,”), “When the Mural Speaks,” and “The Wishing Well.”

On Thursday, October 24, from 5 to 7 p.m., Garcia will host a lecture “Fairy Tales for Truth & Justice: Preserving and Re-Presenting History through Contemporary Narratives” at The Collective and will expound upon SanTana’s Fairy Tales as a visual art installation, oral history and storytelling project. She will share the impact of community collaboration and ethnofiction on storytelling and how it all comes together in her new work with Reality Check 3rd Ward in Houston. 

On Saturday, October 26, from 2 to 4 p.m., Garcia will present a free workshop “From Oral Storytelling to Zine Making” at The Collective and lead participants in sharing their own stories through a zine-making activity. The exhibit closes on November 2.