Carmen Lomas Garza

Carmen Lomas Garza is originally from Kingsville, a small city in southern Texas close to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Constance Cortez introduces the artist’s upbringing in the fifties and sixties with a historian approach; South Texas during that time period was not a welcoming place for Chicanas/os and maintained a very formal and staunch anti-Mexican platform politically and sociologically. Segregation of Caucasians and Mexicans was apparent in various manners including segregated schools, which impacted the youths’ upbringing. Lomas Garza experienced the stigma and institutionalized racism in full force like many other Chicanas/os in Texas. From a historian perspective like Cortez’s, the sixties was also a time known for the rebellious kids protesting against their parents and “the man”, while many ignore the Mexican-American children from the same era who were rather close to their families and drew inspiration from their elders. While some artists of that time and location portrayed the perils of being Chicana/o in their artwork, Lomas Garza aimed at presenting the beauty and unity of Chicana/o cultures. She also felt the same anger and sadness like many others, but Lomas Garza translated that energy into harmonious and vibrant art.

Lomas Garza’s landscape painting, (3) Hammerhead Shark on Padre Island from 1987 displays a community coming together to see a huge hammerhead shark caught by a proud fisherman. The characters in the painting are enjoying themselves, and while being united may be a sense of peace and health, safety is still a challenge as seen with the hammerhead shark. The unsafe element in the painting alludes to the norm of how Mexican-Americans are unsafe and unwanted in many aspects in South Padre Island and Texas in general.