Carmen Lomas Garza: Cakewalk

As I was reading through Carmen Lomas Garza’s book, one image that I really enjoyed was the one titled Cakewalk. This image was created in 1987 as an acrylic on canvas piece. One aspect that I really enjoy about Lomas Garza’s work, in general, is that she really focuses on the concept of family while representing the realities of a Mexican American community; she does this by having her work revolve around unity and culture. In many of her art pieces, we see her resemble her childhood memories or experiences and this image is a perfect depiction of this. Lomas Garza is in this particular image and uses it to represent how all the kids are participating in an activity that will ensure their own futures, and of course, Lomas Garza is seen drawing on the sidewalk with a twig. I really enjoyed this piece because it shows the interactions within a community. In this image, you can see shop owners, members of the American GI forum, parents, friends, and even pets. 

This image represents a community fundraiser, raising money to send Mexican Americans to the university. The game being played is called cakewalk, and sort of parallels the game of musical chairs. Each person would pay 25 cents to play and they would stand on a number. They would then walk around as music played and when it stopped, so did they and then someone would call out a random number and the person standing on this number won a cake and this is how they raised funds. I like the message of the community gathering to support the youth and this image portrays the involvement and care that people have for one another. When there is a cause that needs to be supported, everyone will do their best to get involved to help whoever is in need. The unity of the community proves to be important in social movements by creating this encouraging support needed to spark a change.