IMAGE x rafa esparza x COMMONWEALTH AND COUNCIL / Art Basel Miami / November 30 2022
For Art Basel Miami, Image commissioned the visionary artist rafa esparza to create a performance in collaboration with his gallery Commonwealth and Council. The result is “Corpo RanfLA: Terra Cruiser,” during which esparza will transform his body into a lowrider cyborg and invite people in his community to “ride” him. The remnants of the performance — a retrofitted 25-cent pony ride structure — will remain on display during the fair.
In this special edition of Image, commemorating the occasion of “Corpo RanfLA: Terra Cruiser,” we invited esparza and several riders to share their stories and how this special project came to be.
The editors
Documenting rafa esparza’s magic was a dream that is going to be with me forever
Fabian Guerrero reflects on how the original ‘Corpo RanfLA’ performance shaped him: ‘I learned that... my work is not only about me, it’s about other people’ Read the story 📸
The cyborg is an extension of self. What myths has this creature inherited from rafa?
Karla Ekatherine Canseco on the many narratives the lowrider spaceship she helped create will be carrying into the future Read the story 👩🏽🏭
The paint must hit from all angles on the lowrider cyborg. Enter Mario Ayala
‘He knew that I airbrushed and was also thinking about how the mechanics of a car machine resemble parts of the human body — are kind of extensions of them in some way’ Read the story 🎨
Present this ticket designed by Victor Barragán when it’s time to ride rafa esparza
The visionary fashion artist’s contribution to ‘Corpo RanfLA: Terra Cruiser’ has the feeling of something you’ve found Read the story 🎟
‘Corpo RanfLA: Terra Cruiser’ is about collective memory. Guadalupe Rosales can explain
From Veteranas and Rucas to Map Pointz, the East L.A. artist will show you what she means when she says the body is an archive Read the story 📂
Behind the scenes of ‘Corpo RanfLA: Terra Cruiser’
A short film on the making of the lowrider cyborg by Gustavo Soriano Read the story 📹
Bárbara Sánchez-Kane and Estevan Oriol prepared a proper high-fashion send-off for the cyborg
At Elysian Park, the iconic designer and legendary photographer teamed up to commemorate the next phase of ‘Corpo RanfLA,’ with style Read the story 👗
The day the lowrider cyborg took Miami
The lowrider cyborg, a.k.a. rafa esparza, takes up space across seemingly different eras. In different time zones. In different cosmos. You need to see it to get the gist Read the story 🎠
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