Laura Alvarez

              "Art should be personal" - Laura Lopez

“Clean Up at the Monsanto House of the Future”

Hearing Laura Lopez speak about her art and what it means to her was an incredible experience. I really enjoy hearing artists speak about their work because it gives the images so much more meaning. It was interesting to see how the changes in her life were reflective in her artwork. Her work is a combination of her identity and what she grew up around as well as her parents. It astonished me to see that she had been working on the Double-Edged Sirvienta series for over twenty years. I was also fascinated with the multi-media artist she is. The image that stood out to me the most was the painting named "Clean Up at the Monsanto House of the Future". I am interested in fashion and related to a lot of what she said in regards to how what you wear is powerful. She would get dressed up to change the connotation that maids are inferior. In doing so, she was empowering herself and completely changing the way she saw herself and others may have seen her. She took pride in the work she did and took ownership of it. Through this image along with the others in this series, she is able to shift the way we think about housekeeping or maids.