Mekaya: The Life's Work of Mekaya Gomez
Exhibit: April 3- June 6, 2004
Reception: Friday, May 7, 2004
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Mekaya is a collection of artwork by the late Mekaya Gomez, son of the artist and activist Marsha Gomez. The story of his life is short and tragic. He spent much of it in and out of psychiatric facilities. The darkness of his schizophrenia was something he could not escape, nor something anyone knew how to treat or handle. Both he and his mother fought to help his fragmented mind. In 1994, he was convicted of intoxication and trespassing. For the next few years, he cycled twice through jail, incompetency hearings, and restoration treatments before being released back into public and even more eventual problems. While jail provided him medication, he could still refuse it. The law had no authority then to force medication outside of hospitalization. After another committal in 1997, the staff wrote in their final report that he needed close psychiatric monitoring or else he could become even more psychotic and dangerous. It wasn't long after he was released in 1998 that he tragically killed his mother Marsha. He was then convicted and sentenced for her murder in December 1999. While carrying out his sentence, Mekaya died in 2002 at the age of 25 in the psychiatric unit of the prison.
Mekaya's artwork is a reflection of his scattered mind and life, yet shows the mystery and beauty that was inside his heart. La Peña is presenting an exhibition of his work throughout April and May, with a reception taking place on Friday, May 8 th from 6-8 pm.