Week 7: Santa Baraza

I decided to do my presentation on Santa Baraza because I have learned about her in a previous class and really liked her art piece La Malinche. I really enjoy her style because apart from being beautiful work, it carries a lot of meaning and speaks to several issues and common experiences in the Chicano community.  She was born on April 7, 1951, a native to Kingsville, Texas making her Artist of the Borderland. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1975 and a Master of Fine Arts in 1982 at the University of Texas at Austin. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Penn State and the University of Austria. Her art focuses on identity and her experiences with understanding her cultural history. A reoccurring theme in her work is that of Nepantla, a Nahuatl word meaning in the middle, which represents in-betweenness. Those whole live near the Mexican-American border and often battle with their identity might feel like they are in between two worlds, without feeling like they belong an either.