Blancas, Elizabeth (Lizzy)

Hello all, my name is Elizabeth Blancas. I go by Lizzy and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am a third-year Chicana/o/x and Central American Studies major with an Art History minor, working on obtaining my bachelor’s degree. As a transfer student from community college, this is my second quarter studying at UCLA. I am excited for this course as I am a Xicana visual artist and have a deep appreciation for the generations of Chicana visual artists that have paved the way and continue to create in ways that go beyond aesthetically beautiful work, but create dialogue and shift narratives about the complexities of Chicana identity. At this time, I am not involved in research, but I am interested in finding ways to merge my practice as a visual artist and scholarly work as I focus on my many areas of interest. After only one full quarter at UCLA, I am feeling a call to continue in my journey of higher education after obtaining my B.A. as I’ve been moved by the research and work of my peers and professors. 

In Alma Lopez’s chapter It’s Not about the Santa in My Fe, but the Santa Fe in My Santa, I found myself continuously moved by the ways in which Lopez ‘re-membered’ la Guadalupana. Growing up as a Xicana in a Catholic household in the Bay Area, I too, found myself not only surrounded by La Virgen de Guadalupe in my house but in my larger community as well. My relationship with La Virgen has evolved and more so grown distant in the most recent years of my life, as I rejected Catholicism. However, it’s been on my journey of unlearning and learning that I’ve found myself again reconciling my relationship to La Guadalupana. It’s been through the works of mujeres like Alma Lopez, Yolanda Lopez, Ester Hernandez, amongst others, where I’ve seen myself reflected in her. However, I hadn’t yet come across written work that challenged my relationship with and perception of La Guadalupana prior to this reading. As an artivist, I was exhilarated to read about Lopez’s detailed research and interpretation of La Guadalupana, especially her creation being a result of years of organizing, painting, and oral tradition amongst collaborating community members in order to serve as an avenue for indigenous survival and resistance (258). I’m excited to continue learning about La Guadalupana from this lense and have already felt inspired to create new imagery thanks to this reading.