Chicana Printmakers

Holly Barnet-Sanchez’ essay Where Are the Chicana Printmakers? Presence and Absence in the Work of Chicana Artist of the Movimiento discusses the role of Chicana printmakers in the construction of Chicana/o identity. She argues that “they have constituted or reconstituted their identities as mestizas, bicultural and bilingual, as women who are renegotiating their conceptual and physical presence and territories individually and collectively, redefining what womanness means in terms of self, family, and community” (118). The artists that she talks about deal with themes that aren’t just exclusive to Chicana women. They go beyond the boundaries of the movement to address issues of social inequality, racism, and gender.

I chose to write this post about Yolanda M. López’ print Who’s the Illegal Alien, Prilgrim? because I find it to be an extremely powerful image that makes a political comment using satire. The image features an enraged Aztec warrior who addresses “Pilgrims” while crushing modern immigration legislation. The pointing finger makes reference to the “Uncle Sam” imagery used for army recruitment, which López inverts to communicate a message about territorial legitimacy and the absurdity of the modern immigration situation. I found that López’ use of text along with the image creates a very strong effect. This combination of text and image is common in activist printmaking, and I found this to be a particularly effective example. López’ message goes beyond the immediate goals of the Chicana/o movement and addresses the injustices of European colonialism all over the world.