Carmen Lomas-Garza: Sandia/Watermelon

Carmen Lomas-Garza's 1986 Gouache on cotton paper is a piece I distinctly remember from my childhood when my mom would read me Lomas Garza's "Family Portraits" book, and how I would relate to the feeling of family closeness in this particular picture. I remember having family parties in the warm summers when my family would come to visit and how we would share space in our backyard by eating and telling stories about my dad and my uncle's childhoods. We would also talk about my grandfather a lot because he passed years before my cousins and I were born, and I feel like that goes to show how connected communities of color are to their ancestors and those that came before them. Moreover, when I look at this picture, I see how important the creation of community is.

Adding on to what Evelyn Arroyo commented about Lomas-Garza's projection of community cultural wealth in her image on Earache Treatment, where communities of color share knowledge and wisdom outside of the sphere of formal education because of our lack of access to it, I feel like this image represents that as well as we see the entire family sharing space with each other and taking up space in conservative Texas outside of their home on their porch. On the porch of their home, generations of family members are seen coming together to share food and words. In the corner of the image, Carmen's little sister is explicitly pictured sharing her food with her grandmother as they both extend their hand.