Week 8: Carmen Lomas Garza

Carmen Lomas Garza's art was really interesting for me to be exposed to. I had never seen her artwork but I especially liked the way Garza's images represent and honor our Latina/o culture. One of the pieces that really caught my attention is Tamalada. The reason I really like this image is because it reminds me of home. During holidays or parties my family used to always get together and cook for everyone else. Now it's not so much of a practice because my family has drifted away from each other. This is probably another reason why I connected with this piece. I miss the times when all of my aunts would gather in the kitchen cooking to some Cumbias in the background. I remember a couple of times when my aunt was making tamales to sell in our neighborhood. The scene was very similar to Tamalada; everyone had their own role making the tamales and as a kid I was around watching, trying to learn.

For this reason, I had a connection with most of Garza's prints. I love that one of her main purposes with her art was to represent our culture which was not valued at the time. Not only has she preserved our culture she has also validated it so everyone sees that our culture is rich. Also Garza's images challenge the norms within art because they are not what some would see as traditional or requiring great skill. I say this because on of my neighbors saw Constance Coretz' book and said Garza's images were "ugly." I think he didn't understand why there was a whole book devoted to her work. He said something like he could draw like that. I replied to him explaining why her work was political and important. She has created work that I can relate to and I view my culture with pride.