Xandra Ibarra, is a Chicana artist that is nicknamed La Chica Boom, who has made visual art in multiple mediums including performance art, photography, and sculpture that usually touches on racial, gendered, and queer topics. In her performance art “Car Without Parts”, Xandra pushes a car with a golden sheet over her. The art piece is meant to represent how Black and Latino men typically have some sort of affection towards their vehicles. With the female body attached to the car, Xandra is displaying this affection by exposing her body out from the golden sheet of fabric and showing what is sexually desired by these same men. The portion of her body that is exposed is also very intentional as it reveals the bottom half of her body that is typically sexualized and desired by those that are attracted to women in society. When looking at the positioning of Xandra in relation to the car, her body is protruding from the bumper of the car, that is traditionally related to the female bottom.The golden sheet of fabric could also represent this innate desire and the alluring effects it has on society. Just as society desires nice cars with nice paint jobs, society also desires beautiful women which is symbolized by her being attached to the vehicle. While the color of gold is symbolic of desire and wealth, with the car almost always obscured by the golden sheet, the audience does not know what is really under the sheet. This is meant to symbolize the philosophical concept of Body without Organs which is meant to represent a structure without an internal composition. One question I have for Xandra is what initially inspired her and how has that inspiration translated into performance art.
No comments:
Post a Comment