Laura Alvarez

This week, I had the pleasure of meeting multi-visual and recording artist, Laura Alvarez. Alvarez is an exceptional Chicana artist who specializes in many different forms of art. A popular series Alvarez produced for many was Double Agent Sirvienta. Since 1995, Alvarez continuously adds more and more images to the series, from simple drawings to complex paintings.

In the drawing, "At the Park", the Double Agent Sirvienta looks confidently at the viewer with excellent posture. She wears a jetpack on her back and, in between the two is an infant.

 Laura Alvarez's mother is the inspiration to the Double Agent Sirvienta.  Her mother was one of the positive female role mothers in her young life; therefore, Alvarez created this character to show women in a positive light. Although her mother was a maid, Alvarez did not think any less of her mother.

The Double Agent Sirvienta embodies a strong feminine figure who is capable of being a mother and a spy. Alvarez stresses the fact that women solely are not domestic caretakers and that motherhood is not the end of a young woman's life.  The character is still living her life to the fullest, with her child. In Chicana Sexuality and Gender: Cultural Refiguring in Literature, Oral History, and Art, Debra Blake asserts that most mothers in Mexico are expected to be pure, virginal, and passive, characteristics found in the painting The Virgin of Guadalupe. The painting sets unrealistic high standards for mothers. Alvarez stresses that woman can be mothers, but in addition can be fierce and conquer the world. I admire Alvarez for producing such powerful feminist pieces into the world.