Comment about Lucero Duran's post “The Human Body: Isis Rodriguez and Laura Aguilar”

I really liked Lucero Duran's post from last week about Isis Rodriguez and Laura Aguilar. She explained very well how both artists use the human body, especially the female body, in their art as a way to empower people. Isis Rodriguez uses cartoon representations of sensual women to criticize the exploitation of strippers and to expose gender stereotypes. Laura Aguilar uses her own naked body to question our society's stereotypes about beauty and our relationship to sexuality.

I completely agree with Lucero's position, and I think that in general the human body is a very effective subject to communicate a message in art. Our society teaches us to be so preoccupied about our own appearance, and we are so used to seeing “pretty” faces and bodies in advertisement and movies. When we see a work of art like Laura Aguilar's, it really makes us stop and think about our own stereotypes. It is really empowering when art can take something that society considers “unpleasant” and turn it into something beautiful. In Aguilar's works, her body becomes something solemn, almost sacred. Isis Rodriguez uses a strategy that is sort of the opposite, by drawing cartoon bodies that are exaggerations of the stereotypical idea of female beauty. Rodriguez reveals and criticizes these stereotypes through the use of irony. Both are empowering because in their art the body becomes a way of communicating a message that makes us reflect about ourselves and our culture. Thanks to Lucero for pointing out the connection between the two artists.