Las Vegas gets a joyful new reason to visit the university campus this fall. Facing Change: Mexican Masking Today opens on October 23, 2026, in the East Gallery of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV, and it will stay on view through May 22, 2027. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome.
The exhibition brings contemporary artworks together with a curated selection of twentieth-century Mexican masks. Together, they explore how masking has moved through Mexican communities from precolonial times to today — a playful, powerful way to express identity, share opinions, celebrate spirituality, connect people and reimagine popular entertainment, from traditional dance masks to the colorful world of lucha libre wrestlers and payasos, or clowns.
Twenty-two artists take part, among them Marcel Alcalá, Judy Baca, Jesús Barraza, Melanie Cervantes, Graciela Iturbide, Brian Martinez and Griselda Rosas. The show was created with historians, art historians and anthropologists, in partnership with the Consulate of Mexico in Las Vegas and UNLV’s Latinx Faculty and Staff Alliance, and all of its exhibition texts are presented in both English and Spanish.
The celebration begins with an opening reception during the UNLV Art Walk on October 23, from 5 to 9 p.m. After that, the museum, at 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closing only on state and federal holidays. It is a bright, thoughtful and completely free cultural outing — a wonderful way to see a familiar art form with fresh eyes, right here in Las Vegas.
Photo: Camilo Pachón, courtesy of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, UNLV
