Chang, Nicholas (Week 9)

 I really liked Sasha Rodriguez’s presentation on the muralist Kristy Sandoval. Prior to this presentation, I did not realize that Los Angeles had put a mural ban in place in 2008. The image that stood out to me was Sandoval’s first mural after the ban was lifted in 2013, titled Decolonize. Decolonize shows an image of a woman in a dress opening a cage and letting out parrots and butterflies into the wild. According to Sasha, the inclusion of these particular animals were meant to represent migration and being able to move freely. I think these animals being freed from a cage is a very powerful message of female liberation and feminism. The woman in the mural also has a tattoo of an Aztec moon goddess which pays homage to Aztec heritage.  One aspect of the style in the art piece that I found very interesting was how Sandoval was able to use aspects of the building itself as part of the mural. For example, the cage that the woman is opening is a caged window. Additionally, the parasol acts as the dress that the woman wears in the mural. This style of mural painting is something I personally have never seen before and I really admire that aspect. 

I believe that Sandoval’s mission of promoting feminism is very admirable and I really like how she is able to use her art to show solidarity with other women. In another mural, Sandoval includes an image of Assata Shakur who was a black revolutionary figure and this demonstrates that she was not concerned with dividing people by skin color but rather she wanted to promote solidarity by focusing on common humanity. I found that the intentional spelling of women as “womyn” was very interesting. According to Sasha, this was meant to show that women do not need to gain their identity in relation to men. 

Overall, I think this presentation was very informative and encapsulated Kristy Sandoval’s art and life very well.