Cultural Politics and the CARA Exhibition

Alicia Gaspar de Alba, in her book specifically in Chapter 3: Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore’s Mask: The Mirror of Malinchismo, talked about the CARA exhibition, one of the significant events in Chicano Art Movement, yet Chicana artists were treated unfairly there.The unfairness was shown by the number of artworks displayed in the exhibition, which was dominated by Chicano artists approximately by a hundred more than those of Chicana artists. Moreover, the artworks done by Chicanos were placed in more strategic places and eye-catching spots.

Although the artworks were sketches of Chicanas, most of the artworks that were presented in the general section were pieces of art that were interpreted by men. Therefore, the way the artworks were depicted were to serve the interest of the dominant power; the views upon women were constructed from the eyes of men and not women themselves. Consequently, the women represented in the artworks were those who primarily had the roles of a housewife, a whore, or a baby machine. The artworks were as if women were stationed to produce the future of men.

The situation described in the CARA exhibition was similar to Debra Blake’s book: history was made to serve the interest of the dominant power. Women, the subdominant in this case, were not able to express who they really were or who they wanted people to think of them as because they live in the shadows of the dominant power. Therefore, Chicanas were fighting to complete the missing pieces of the history and to change the stereotype made by the dominant power.
In last week's lecture, Professor Gaspar de Alba highlighted the difference between politics of identity and identity of politics. She defined politics of identity as the way an individual considers him/herself. She asked the class to raise their hands if they consider themselves as a feminist, and surprisingly, although most people who raised their hands were female, there was a man who also raised his hand. The professor then emphasized that people often misunderstood feminism as anti-men movement, but that was not the case. It is nice to see that even men support female rights and believe that female should be treated fairly and equally.