kayleigh wade :+)

Hey y'all, my name is Kayleigh Wade and this is my first quarter here at UCLA. I'm a third-year transfer student from Lynwood, CA aka SELA aka Southeast LA. My major is Chican@ Studies, with my primary camino in the expressive arts and my secondary camino in labor, law, and policy. I am also looking into several different minors, including education, urban planning, and film. Art and my community are my primary passions; through education based in art I hope to enrich and implant an appreciation for art. Although I'm not very well-versed in creating visual art itself, I do love to analyze, write, and live it. I have many interests including FOOD, zines, music (right now I'm mostly listening to Peruvian garage rock from the 60s), writing when I can, and hoping I can learn to skate one day. 

In Profesor Alicia Gaspar de Alba's work Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore's Mask: The Mirror of Malinchismo, the representation of Chicana art is discussed. In the matter of the slightly groundbreaking CARA exhibit, in which Chicana art was perceived to have been well represented, there were approximately 100 more pieces by Chicano artists than Chicana artists. This is illustrated by an unequal ratio in works in each of the exhibit's sections. In addition, the art collectives that were highlighted coincidentally excluded groups that were primarily made of women, specifically Las Mujeres Muralistas from San Francisco. Needless to say, it was massively unbalanced. The difference between politics of identity and identity politics and how formative they are in the consciousness building in women is also discussed. The tendency to reinforce harmful gender roles and norms was very much normalized in the beginnings of the Chicano movement, and although there has been at least some progress, I would argue that our community definitely needs some more work.  A binary of being an Adelita or a Malinche is reinforced in the movement to this day, perhaps not as obviously as back in the day, but its presence is subtle and known and adopted by many. The author also heavily and rightfully criticizes the heteronormativity in the community, particularly in the way that it affects queer Chicanas. The heterocentric stress on la familia, and a nuclear familia at that, deliberately excludes the queer Chican@ experience; to stray from the standard of heteronormativity and complete and utter devotion to the movement and the family and the men is to apparently betray the community itself. A point that really blew my mind was the author's discussion of the placement of the "Feminist Visions" section of the exhibit, which was placed between a romanticized homage to the past and an equally romanticized look to the future, emphasizing the Chicana's biological role in furthering the race. The concept of the Chicana lesbiana as evoking of la Malinche is also particularly interesting; she is inherently rebellious because she goes against the patriarchal and heteronormative expectation of what a Chicana should be. The further placement of the Chicana in the backseat of our community's discourse is further exemplified through Patssi Valdez's muted contributions to ASCO. Overall this work was affirming in the sense that it put words to the suspicions I had of the Chican@ art community. As someone who wishes to curate one day, these issues are something I need to take into consideration as I further my education.

In "There's no Place like Aztlan: Embodied Aesthetics in Chicana Art," also by Professor Gaspar de Alba, the concept of home as a formidable part of identity is discussed. She illustrates this through the narrative of "The Wizard of Oz," which emphasizes the notion of home, and one's desire to return to the place that makes one feel most safe. Ultimately the notion of finding's one's own identity through challenging themselves illustrates the experience of folks living in diaspora. The gendered relationship that many have with Aztlán and the contradictions that are an inherent part of the discourse are discussed in relation to the role that Chicanas have in Chican@ culture. Since the community itself has patriarchal and gendered tendencies, the question is posited whether Chicanas effectively go "beyond Aztlán" when asserting themselves in the arts, politics, etc. I agree with the idea that nationality isn't the only aspect of an identity; there is so much more to who we are that make up our identity, and the idea that the space in between each of these identity markers are equally as important. In addition, the author notes Dorothy's "articulation of desire" and "resistance to hegemony" as central to the formation of her identity; I think that this is very relevant to the formation of identity for Chicanas. In my personal experience, I articulated a desire to reclaim the identity that white supremacy has tried to strip me of, and I resisted the hegemony that reinforced the standards of the society we live in. The author's discussion of the aesthetics of art of many diasporic groups all tie in to the aesthetic of Aztlán, which emphasizes that the concept of place is more than physical, especially since Aztlán is sometimes regarded as a mythical utopia. The "neither here nor there" aspect of our identity is discussed; I find it interesting that when Chican@ artists "return" to Mexico they are not often welcomed, and they are certainly not welcomed here. The ambivalence of our "place" is central to our identity, and ultimately to our art. Our experience is inherently diasporic and that reflects in our culture and discourse.