Estrada, Zyanya

Hi, my name is Zyanya (Zee-an-jah). Because my name is hard to pronounce so most people call me Zee. I am a Gender Studies major with a minor in Spanish and Entrepreneurship.

I'm a junior transferring from Santa Monica College. Before attending SMC, I also attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. This past summer I was given the amazing opportunity to participate in the Transfer Summer Program which helped me get better situated in the UCLA environment. My UCLA experience to me is very important because I am the first person in my family to seek a college education.

I was interested in this course because I love art. I believe that arts is one of the easiest ways to communicate. I remember as a child seeing Kahlo’s work and understanding that there was a level of pain that she was trying to communicate. About a year ago, I crossed paths with the work of Ester Hernandez her piece called “Honor Our Past, Celebrate Our Future” really stuck home for me. I come from a single mother household where my mother did her best to keep our family together. I feel that that’s what that piece is about. In this course I hope to learn about other Chicana artist, whose work can impact me like Ester’s.

I grew up in a moderate Catholic environment so I am very familiar with the image of the Virgen. As I started to develop into the person that I am becoming the meaning of the image changed. My mother introduced the image as the ‘savior’ of our people. Slowly, I began to question how a culture that doesn’t really value or respect their women could have so much respect for a women figure? Then I realized that apart from her showing herself to Juan Diego there is no other mention of her. It was as if she existed solely to deliver a message to him and nothing else. I also find her interesting because she is also seen as a fertility goddess. Fertility goddess don’t really fit the image that the Catholic Church portrays so its super interesting that she is an accepted figure of Catholicism.