Week 2-- La Virgin de Guadalupe

While I did not grow up with la Virgin de Guadalupe and truly did not know much about her history, I still had preconceived ideas about what role she held. I was under the pretense that her role was to serve as a mother, as a supporter of her children and those around her. To me, she was a stable figure that mujers and other religious women to aspired to be and who men associated with motherhood and regarded the women in their life to be. Not knowing the history behind the image, la Virgin to me upheld what it means to be a woman, what femininity is.

Both Professor Gaspar de Alba and mainly Professor Lopez Gaspar de Alba talk about the history of the Virgin and how feminist interpretations are serving as a reclaiming of la Virgin. I highly appreciated the feminist interpretations of la Virgin, even as someone who did not grow up with the iconic image. To me, art produced by Professor Lopez Gaspar de Alba serves as a means to reclaim the image for women all around. Her presentation this past Monday reinforced that other iconic images of women present throughout history and in today’s culture are constructed by men to uphold male ideals of what a woman should be. Rather, la Virgin is empowered; she is a force of positive sexuality and strong female rule. She is more than a mother, but she still holds the power that motherhood brings. The feminist art movement serves as a necessary reclaiming of the image for women all around.