The work that caught my attention the most, would be Xandra Ibarra’s piece titled Tapatio Cock (2004). The image itself depicts a Tapatio bottle that has been inserted into a black, leather strap-on harness. The tapatio bottle itself has replaced the common phallic object that would be typically found there. Ibarra’s usage of both objects together creates a conversation on the fetishization and sexualization of Chicanos and Latinos alike. It is very significant to point out that there is a history of painting Latinos as the “Latin lover” typecast, which generally hurts the latino population in the sense that it demoralizes and objectifies brown bodies. It also plays into the humor, when Ibarra places the hot sauce bottle and in her terms the bottle itself becomes a “chile”, also referred to as a penis.
One question that I would like to ask the artist, Xandra Ibarra, would be: are there any instances in which you believe your messages of racialized sexual objectification portrayed through your works can be too explicit? How far can one push the boundaries of sex within art until it is considered pornography?
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