Playas, Nayeli (Blog 5: Carmen Lomaz Garza)

 Carmen Lomaz Garza is a Chicana artist that was born and raised in Kingsville, Texas. Her paintings not only show her memories, but they also show hope and tenacity. The painting that caught my attention the most was Cama para Sueños. Garza’s mother was very important to her, which is why she dedicated her Cama para Sueños. Her mother was an artistic role model to Garza because she would paint watercolors on the lottery tablets. In the painting Cama para Sueños, there are two girls on top of a house roof watching the moon, and in the house, there is a woman who appears to be fixing some pink bed sheets. According to Constance Cortez, the painting takes place on a summer evening in South Texas and the mother has no clue about her daughters’ whereabouts. In the painting, the mother is preparing the bed for a “night's slumber” (Cortez 1). This painting referenced two beds, although there is only one bed in the painting: “One is created by an act of parental love inside of the confines of the safe and light-filled home; the other is the shingle-clad roof on which the children gaze toward their future and its seemingly endless possibilities” (Cortez 1). I like this painting because it is something similar that I have experienced. On summer nights my friend and I would sit in her backyard watching the stars and moon while talking about what the future holds for us. Then I would go back home to a warm bed that my mother had prepared for me that day. It felt nice going back home knowing that there was someone who was there to take care of me. The parental love that I experienced from both of my parents helped give me hope for the future, for my future specifically because I knew that I would always have their support.