Reclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms

February 27–March 27, 2026

Reclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms is a project directed by Professor of Visual Art María Velasco, created with filmmaker and producer Matt Jacobson, oral historian Valerie Mendoza, and researcher and archivist Neill Esquibel-Kennedy, that addresses the mass displacement resulting from urban renewal in the Topeka Bottoms. More than twenty blocks of thriving and diverse communities and businesses were bulldozed over in less than 10 years. Through oral histories, community mapping, and sculpture, Jacobson, Mendoza, Esquibel-Kennedy, and Velasco preserve and share the memories and histories of the Topeka Bottoms community.
Exhibition poster for "Reclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms"

Francisca Maria Velasco

María Velasco is a Spanish-born artist who has been living and working in the USA since the 1990s. Her interdisciplinary work consists of site-specific environments, sculptural objects, and temporary public art commissions. She is a Professor of Visual Art at the University of Kansas, and teaches courses in Installation Art, Socially Engaged Art, Drawing, and Professional Practice for artists.
Maria Velasco talking in her studio
Table with sculpture and portraits on wall
Wall and table sculptures
Chairs, TV, partial view of frames and sculpture

Reclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms Opening ReceptionView as gallery page

Reclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms Exhibition ImagesView as gallery page

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