Expressing History Through Art: Mario Bencastro During Teach Central America Week 

The Casa de la Cultura El Salvador brought Salvadoran author and artist Mario Bencastro to Washington, D.C. for a week of activities during Teach Central America Week 2019. Bencastro made nine appearances in front of nearly 500 people over the course of the week, visiting Oyster Adams Bilingual School (DCPS), Carlos Rosario International PCS, Sacred Heart Bilingual School, Peña Cultural Salvadoreña, Mount Pleasant Library, University of Maryland, and several campuses of Montgomery College. The Casa de la Cultura El Salvador and Mario Bencastro donated nearly 400 copies of his books Vato Guanaco Loco, Odyssey to the North, and A Promise to Keep to schools and libraries.

Below read an example of one of his school visits.

Mario Bencastro Visits Sacred Heart Bilingual Catholic School

By Cierra Kaler-Jones

For Mario Bencastro, a Salvadoran novelist and painter, walking into Sacred Heart Bilingual School in Washington, D.C. for his second visit to the school was a momentous and celebratory occasion. He had an exciting announcement to share that made the group of middle school students stir with enthusiasm.

During his first first visit in May, Bencastro discussed Un Tren Llamado Esperanza, one of his poems that students had studied extensively in class. In preparation for Bencastro’s visit, students had prepared insightful questions and thoughts to share with Bencastro, along with performances and their own original art.

Following that visit and the coverage surrounding it, Bencastro was asked to sign on with a publisher to write a bilingual book based on the poem. That wasn’t the only piece of good news. He also announced,

Muchas gracias por ustedes. I’m very thankful for you all. The first place I would like to share the book once it’s published is here, with you, at Sacred Heart School. 

Bencastro shared a presentation about his artwork and his journey to becoming a writer. He showed some of his paintings including “Poems” and “Spatia,” explaining the evolution of his painting practice. He noted the Mayan influence of some of his work, which is deeply and beautifully rooted in his ancestry and memories of his childhood. Bencastro is from a town in El Salvador that borders Guatemala where many of his family members once lived. The rich colors and symbols from his detailed artwork danced off the screen as he described how at thirteen years old he asked himself,

Could I be a painter? 

Bencastro reflected on how this was a significant moment for him. He worked tirelessly to perfect his craft, but admitted it was difficult, as painting is a time-consuming, but rewarding endeavor. At the height of his painting career, there was social unrest in El Salvador. While his painting had not previously portrayed symbolic messages or communicated political statements, he felt he had to tell the story of what was happening in El Salvador. He reflected,

I wanted to turn the stories into art. 

Bencastro studied the work of Diego Rivera and Pablo Picasso to gain inspiration for how to move from more abstract art to painting that represented the struggles and beauty of his country. As he felt he was reaching a peak in his art, he began to turn to writing as another outlet to express those political issues he aimed to represent with his art. He soon realized that the complexities and nuances of war and unrest were challenging to paint, and he funneled many of those themes into his writing.

Bencastro showed students the progression of his books and shared the challenges of getting a book published. He explained that he finally submitted a successful manuscript, which then became Disparo En La Catedral, after many attempts at writing a novel that many publishers described as confusing. Bencastro noted that the confusion was intentional to represent the chaos of the war. 

As Bencastro talked, students wrote down words and phrases that they found to be particularly interesting and beautiful. Looking out into the audience, students were enraptured by Bencastro’s moving story — one that is centered in using art as both a form of expression and as political and social commentary. Throughout the presentation and series of events, this common thread surfaced. Not only did students study Bencastro’s work, but the history and sociopolitical context of rap. 

Students react to Bencastro’s work

After Bencastro’s presentation, Spanish teacher Carlos Parada invited each grade level to the front of the room to perform raps they had written in class. Each student was responsible for writing eight verses. Some students added their own flair, including one student, Pedro Rondon, who performed an entire song of his original verses.

Students read and deconstructed Bencastro’s Vato guanaco loco: rap en caliche, which tells the story of a young man who leaves El Salvador because of the war and arrives to the United States, on foot, searching for opportunities to work. He works incredibly hard, saves money to send back to his family, and eventually saves enough to buy fancy clothes and purchase land in El Salvador. When I asked students for their thoughts on what they were learning, one student reflected, 

We’ve been learning about rap and its influence on history. We’ve also been learning about themes of identity and identification. When reading the poem, it reminded me of the American Dream and immigration. It’s a touchy subject that some might not want to talk about because of everything that’s been going on in the world. 

Parada explained how students learned about rap within the context of the birth of hip hop. They talked about DJ Kool Herc and the leaders of rap and hip hop, while also delving into the geopolitical history of the Bronx, where hip hop is said to have originated. In class they explored how rap became popular and how many countries and cultures have adopted and adapted elements of rap into their music. For example, they studied the music of Calle 13, a Puerto Rican band formed by two stepbrothers. Students analyzed the elements of hip hop, including deejaying and turntabling, rapping and MCing, graffiti, and b-boying. They also examined how many of the elements are linked to art, music, poetry, and dance that they see in many cultures, as well as in their daily lives on television, in the news, and in their communities. 

Not only did students have an opportunity to present their skills to Bencastro and to each other, but Parada also rapped, accompanied by a student, who beatboxed as background music. This musical duo, along with all of the performers, were not only poetic and entertaining, but relayed a strong message about the importance of engaging young people in learning about their histories and giving them opportunities to display a multitude of talents at school. 

After the performances, math teacher Joanna Slinkert introduced students to a gallery walk activity, where they were able to appreciate their peers’ artwork and leave comments, questions, and wonderings on post-its. Their guiding question for the gallery walk was

What connections do you see to Mario Bencastro’s work? 

When students returned to their seats, they processed together what they noticed. One student made a connection that they didn’t notice many shapes, but saw there were a lot of vivid colors represented in the artwork. Another student commented that some of the drawings included farms and others included cities, which brought up a perceptive question about how spaces and geography are represented throughout the work. One student said that the drawings reminded them of the stories and characters that were present in Bencastro’s poems they read. 

Language arts and arts integration coach, Kristen Kullberg, led students through a thinking routine, where they were presented with the question, “Why does the work of Mario Bencastro matter to us?” Kullberg shared with students,

Our words matter. Our words are special, interesting, and important. 

The first direction for the thinking routine was to write one word, drawing from the words students wrote down on their paper during Bencastro’s talk. Groups had representation from each middle school grade and they each shared one word, writing it all down with one color marker. As they described to each other the significance and meaning behind their one word, students’ words included:

• Abstract. Mario Bencastro worked hard and many were inspired by his paintings.

• Collection. Mario Bencastro didn’t want to sell one of his collections because it meant a lot to him.

• Feelings’. I chose feelings’ with an apostrophe to show that it is about Mario Bencastro’s feelings and I want to capture those. 

• Guerra. War. Bencastro couldn’t go back to El Salvador because of the war.

For the second part of the thinking routine, students were encouraged to share the phrases they wrote down during Bencastro’s talk and wrote those down on the collective paper with a different color marker. Students phrases included,

• Background story. Bencastro was generous and shared his background story with us. 

• He left. Because he had to leave his country.

• Muchas gracias por ustedes. I’m very thankful for you all. He said he was thankful for us and that means a lot to me.  

Bencastro’s visit and the student’s presentations were a result of a collaborative effort of all of the middle school teachers, including Carlos Parada (Spanish), Kristen Kullberg (language arts and arts integration coach), Greg Landrigan (global studies), Riana Fisher (science), and Joanna Slinkert (math). Sacred Heart’s principal Elise Heil and Vince Spadoni, consortium president, were supportive guests and an engaged audience. Dr. Jeannette Noltenius, of Casa de la Cultura El Salvador and advisor for Teaching for Change’s Teach Central America campaign also poured resources and support into making the visit a success. 

This program was a positive example of collaborative synergy to engage students in a comprehensive and in-depth look at how art and writing can be used to tell and reshape stories, as well as bring history to life. Mario Bencastro’s work inspired the young people to use rap, art, and poetry as a way to both learn about a rich cultural history, but also share that history through creative outlets. 

Cierra Kaler-Jones is the Education Anew Fellow with Communities for Just Schools Fund and Teaching for Change. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at University of Maryland - College Park studying minority and urban education.