Torres, Sarahy (week 6)

    Seeing Xandra Ibarra’s artwork makes it difficult to concentrate on just one of them. I was automatically drawn to the sculptures and photography she has since it is something I am accustomed to. I looked through her sculptures and decided on analyzing “Side by Side (couple)”. Ibarra’s meaning behind this is the ability to be seen as a “collaborative social unit”. She collected these dead cockroaches at her mother’s house. She placed these cockroaches on top of rhinestones to show their last moments together. 

    Seeing this sculpture at first was shocking because it's just insects. I never considered insects to be considered art. I also have never seen two insects dead together unless they were squashed. It’s interesting to see someone interpret these two cockroaches as a couple dying together. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet where they die after one another. It touches on the romatizing of relationships and dying together. 

    The concept of relationship is mentioned in this sculpture by the couple dying together. It speaks on the dream of being able to spend a lifetime with someone. It alludes to the Disney movies that have a happily ever after. The display given to the cockroaches shows their importance to their death. 

    Ibarra’s artwork is interesting to see since each art piece demonstrates a different part of her thinking process. For example, the photograph “Sad Fuks” shows different bed mattresses in the street with the different Spanish words. Ibarra explains how these bed mattresses represent a plea for help in the Latino/Chicano community. She mentions how it is not a “call to do something” but “to feel the present crisis of uncertainty”. The encoded words in the mattresses show the community how important it is to help one another during these uncertain times especially during the pandemic.