Millions of Dreams Ago

2025 Mohn LAND Grant recipient Susan Aparicio will debut her installation Millions of Dreams Ago at the UCLA Planetarium this fall. The multi-media installation brings together stained-glass sculptures and video, using the unique projecting capabilities of the planetarium to draw together narratives of familiar ties, memory, cosmic time, and diaspora.

Aparicio has previously drawn from her personal archive of home videos to create works that align ideas relating to the extraterrestrial and cosmological—the immigrant as alien, for example—and this latest project seeks to connect the psychological distance created by memory and the delayed reception of starlight that reaches us. In addition, the project engages with the stars and constellations as a primordial storytelling medium.

For Millions of Dreams Ago, a series of star-shaped stained-glass sculptures will mirror projected video onto the ceiling of the UCLA Planetarium, creating a constellation of moving images on the domed ceiling. The star-shaped projections are comprised of digitized home recordings of Aparicio’s family made between 1995 and 2005. During that period, her parents, aunts, and uncles were undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America, just beginning their lives in Los Angeles, specifically southeast LA, and living in apartments in Bell, CA. The projected video involves abstract glimpses into that time—parties, funerals, jokes, arguments, and their daily life and wonders. Aparicio brings these moments together to create a complex but intimate view of her family’s experience as young immigrants in Los Angeles.

According to the artist, “The stars in this installation form a new constellation, mapping a family memory and story, connecting to how stars and constellations traditionally were used for storytelling and creating meaning.”

Susan Aparicio (b. 1996, Bell, CA) is a Los Angeles based multidisciplinary artist. Her work frequently engages with familial stories and family footage to reflect on her upbringing—mixing in the mythos and aesthetics she grew up with around latinidad, sci-fi, spirituality, and pop culture. She has presented her work at the California State University, Dominguez Hills, Charlie James Gallery, The Mistake Room, and the Official Latino Film and Arts Festival, among others. Aparicio earned dual BA degrees in Studio Art and Cognitive Science from the University of Virginia, and completed an MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles in Art.

Millions of Dreams Ago is commissioned by Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) and organized by Bryan Barcena, LAND curator-at-large.

This project is funded through the Mohn LAND Grants established by Pamela and Jarl Mohn. The initiative provides Los Angeles-based artists resources and support to present site-responsive, transdisciplinary work across Los Angeles County.

LAND’s 2025 projects are made possible with lead support from the Offield Family Foundation, the Jerry and Terri Kohl Family Foundation, and The Perenchio Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation, Ben Weyerhaeuser, Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture, Brenda Potter, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and LAND’s Nomadic Council.

Commissions by LAND are supported by the LAND Artist Fund with major funding provided by Karyn Kohl. Generous funding is provided by Berry Stein and The Goodman Family Foundation.

LAND is a member of and supported by the Los Angeles Visual Arts (LAVA) Coalition.

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Image: Susan Aparicio, Stellar Remnants, 2023. Photo by Monica Orozco.