Carmen Lomas Garza

Carmen Lomas Garza grew up in Kingsville, Texas. She started painting since the age of thirteen. After she graduated from college, she was inspired by the 60s and 70s Chicano movement to make paintings that deliver a message to the public that despite racial discrimination, cultural conflict, and social prejudice, Garza’s cultural heritage in a Chicano/a community is still a rich and vital one. Therefore, her pictures mostly depict the daily lives and special events in her community. These pictures all have the same tone, which is “joy” and “togetherness”. With this in mind, her one objective is to challenge the oppression against Mexican Americans. 

After looking through her collection of art, the painting  “Abuelitos Piscando Nopalitos” made in 1980 really stood out to me. When translated to english, it means “Grandparents Harvesting Cactus”. After looking at this picture, it immediately reminded me of my hometown. Although I am not part of the Mexican American comm, we also suffered racial discrimination in Indonesia. In this picture, Garza drew a normal afternoon on the daily lives of her grandparents. Whenever she visited her grandparents, she would help them in the field. This shows the element of togetherness that is present in her community, despite racial prejudices.