week 6

I chose to do my post on one of Carmen Lomas Garza panting’s called “Pachuca With a Razor Blade.” The painting depicts three young teenage women getting ready to go out to an event. The paintings medium is Gouache on cotton paper and was created in 1989. The three girls are safe and happy in this protective area free to be comfortable in their own skin as they get ready for their day out. The women are completely stress-free and relaxed in their safe space. Once these women step out of this protective space they must navigate and deal with not only racial negative attitudes towards being Latina but also sexist comments from the outside. The painting means a lot to me because it is a feeling that I can relate to. Being a woman of color, I feel that we not only have to deal with the outside world commenting on our skin color but also our gender.

Pachuca’s are female Latina women that wore zoot suit like apparel during World War Two. These women defied social and cultural taboos by wearing pants and suits out in public when it was not allowed for women to dress in that manner. Pachuca’s wore very heavy makeup and had their hair pinned up big. Mexican descent young adults living in the United States mainly used the Pachuco and Pachuca type of style. The Pachuco and Pachuca were often associated to crime and gangsters and were heavily targeted by police.