Torres, Sarahy (week 8)

    Listening to my peers presenting made it difficult to choose which artist to write a blog post on. I was automatically captivated by my peers' artist, Graciela Carrillo. Carrillo was being presented by Jacqueline Torres who did an excellent job in showing the mujer muralista. Carillo is an artist and muralist who was born in 1950 and gained an education from San Francisco State in the 1960s. There were three pieces of art presented which were Cactus (1974), Latinoamerica, and Marzo (1975). Latinoamerica represented the Latino community, showed a man holding a calendar, and Cactus the Mexican American community. During the process of painting Latinoamerica, families would work from seven in the morning to three in the afternoon where they would learn about Indigenous culture. The corn in the mural (Latinoamerica) showed the significance of food to Indigenous people as well as educational knowledge being connected to cultural roots. Marzo showing a man holding a calendar referenced the Aztecs' creation of them. Marzo and Cactus were also showcased in the Galería de la Raza. 

When seeing the murals and paintings, I was astonished by the colors and use of objects in them. For example, Latinoamerica appeared huge in the presentation and held a lot of Indigenous knowledge/references. The colors are warm tones but strong simultaneously. The use of fields, corn, and symbols holds important value to the overall mural. Marzo appeared to me as a man holding a calendar with wings and a cape. The wings seem angelic and the cape adds on this superhero persona to his character. Cactus I believe references the undocumented population in the Latino community. It signifies the dedication of crossing the border to live the “American Dream”. It reminds me of the saying “border crossed us”. Our undocumented people cross the border that was not suppose to exist since it is stolen land from the Anglos. Marzo touches beyond the immigration issue but the origin of it. From the Native Americans and Mexicans being driven away from the land (Manifest Destiny) to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.