Self-Determination

In the essay The Iconography of Self Determination: Race Ethnicity, and Class, Shifra M. Goldman discusses Chicano art from a social and historical perspective. According to Goldman, many Anglo-Saxon settlers brought racist attitudes from Europe to North America. Therefore, this time, many Chicano artists focused on race, ethnicity, and class, which aided them in shaping their self-identity. In result, there was a movement in order to end the negative attitudes inflicted on Chicanos, so they would not appear to be below others. From the years 1965-1980, there was a surge in Mexican American art that specifically focused on Chicanos. During the movement, certain images greatly influenced Chicano art, for example the Virgin of Guadalupe, and Chicana artist Yolanda López used the Virgin of Guadalupe as inspiration in several of her pieces of art.

            In her series, Guadalupe Triptych, López uses the Virgin of Guadalupe as inspiration for the three pieces she produces to discuss Chicana self-determination. One of the pieces titled Margaret F. Stewart: Our Lady of Guadalupe illustrates López’s mother at work, working with a sewing machine. López presents her mother as a woman who is capable of work. Her nonverbal communication portrays the difficulties of her life, but she is a fighter and continues to work hard. Her body is soft, round, and not over sexualized; however, López always seen her mother as beautiful. She successfully depicted her mother as a self-determined woman who worked hard her entire life to break the barriers of her race, ethnicity, class and gender.