Final Post (Week 10)

It’s crazy to consider how many Chicana artists we covered in so little time. When we first listed all those names on the board only a handful of those were Chicanas. That being said, I thought we only came up with so few because there weren’t many Chicana artists, then to our surprise there turned out to be several of them. One thing I definitely took away from this course was the role that art could play within society. As evidenced from class presentations and readings about Carmen Lomas Garza and especially Yolanda Lopez, art can redefine people’s history while bringing people together. Prior to taking this course I didn’t consider art, especially Chicana art, to be an important aspect that was worth noting. I, however, was completely wrong and thanks to Professor Alma Lopez I finally realized that art, much like any book, informs us about different events that have taken place.

Besides reading and learning about different artists, I also greatly enjoyed being able to learn how to draw. From when I was in elementary school I’ve always hated drawing because I was never good at it. However, thanks to this class and Professor Lopez I was finally able to improve on my artistic qualities that I never knew I had. I enjoyed drawing my hands because it allowed me to work on both shading but also paying attention to detail. When I went home for Thanksgiving I showed my mom the sketchbook I was working on and even she was surprised to see how much had improved in such a short amount of time. I really did enjoy this course because I got the chance to draw while at the same time learning more about the role that art played within the Chicano Movement.

Thanksgiving

Besides incorporating her family, Carmen Lomas Garza provides a tremendous amount of detail within her art. That being said, I tried to incorporate as much detail as possible. The drawing includes a table with all the food we ate during Thanksgiving and features both my parents, my dad wearing a sombrero, and my two brothers and myself behind the table. I was going to draw the last supper image in background, since we have one in our kitchen, but found it was going to be too challenging. I instead included a cross as a signifier of our religious affiliation to Catholicism. I also included a window through which another house is visible and a sliding door on the left hand side leading outside to our patio/backyard.

There is one image in which Garza depicts her family making tamales, which also speaks to how big a role family played in her life. This, too, also relates to my image because we are really family-oriented and on different holidays, such as Thanksgiving, we always make sure to spend those days together. Furthermore, I also included a furniture piece on the side and the green rug in which our table rests on top of. The squares that are colored in with a peach colored pencil are supposed to be the tiles that surround our home. Much like Garza, I was able to provide viewers with an inside glimpse into the important role that my family plays along with the value that we place on holidays.

Ester Hernandez

The image that I decided to focus on is a screenprint by Ester Hernandez titled Sun Mad. This image struck me the most because it’s really bringing awareness to the farmworker’s daily struggle and it also raises issues about consumerism. The image lists harmful pesticides at the bottom. This reference is directed at the harmful environment that the workers have to endure. I remember reading an article about the effects of working around such toxic poisons and the way they damage a workers body. For instance, many women who were pregnant and were still working in the fields either lost their child or were born with serious health conditions.

In regards to commercialization, it definitely raises questions about how living under capitalism we seem to ignore where exactly the things we buy come from. Someone had to pick the fruits/vegetables, but because all we do is consume and not give any consideration to where something came from, we overlook the issues at hand. The skeleton in the image, in my opinion, represents the people who are working around the pesticides and putting their lives in danger. Furthermore, since consumers are constantly indulging in several different commodities, we ignore important issues such as the use of pesticides. Through Sun Mad, Ester Hernandez was able to shed light on two issues that till this day continue to be ignored.     

Laura Aguilar

While several artists have been talked about these past couple of weeks the one that struck me the most was Laura Aguilar. More specifically, her photograph titled Three Eagles Flying. It really speaks to me the most because it is politically driven. Regardless of Aguilar being naked in the middle of the photograph, the U.S. and Mexico flags both on her body and on the sides, speaks a lot about identity. As a Mexican American, this image impacted the way I looked at myself growing up because I’ve been forced to have to question my own identity among my peers. The need of having to identify as either/or has made it difficult for me to be able to develop an identity that others would approve. That being said, to me the ropes that have Aguilar tied up in the image reflect the inescapable bond that one has towards their nationality and ethnicity. One is not simply free to be whom they want; one’s identity is confined to the norms and expectations of society.

Being that the photograph is political it reminded me a lot of Yolanda Lopez’ art. Some of the art that Lopez created was political especially considering the time in which she grew up. Her image titled Who’s the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim? can be compared to Aguilar’s photograph because it also speaks to the issue of identity. In this case the issue of who is considered “illegal” is socially constructed and is also inescapable from the thoughts of people. Lastly, in my opinion, both Chicana artists question identity because while it may seem that we have full agency over who we are, other forces are at work that we can’t control.

Carmen Lomas Garza

In the final chapter titled “Carmen versus the Future”, Cortez mentions that by the year 2000, Garza was already a renounced Chicana artist. Using her popularity, Garza decided that depicting images of cultural practices would help new generations understand different aspects of Latino community such as family. Cortez writes, “…[Garza] conveys to the viewer a message about the past and the present, and the viewer responds by relating that imagery to his or her own experience” (97). This is best represented in the image Quinceañera done with oil and alkyd on wood. This image captures a celebration while also including the religious aspect that comes with a young woman turning fifteen. There is a lot going on in the picture, from kids playing to the quinceañera talking to her father.  As Garza intended, this image got me to remember when I went to such a celebration and got to witness the transformation of a girl becoming a woman. By drawing the church in the background, it reminds Latinos of the strong association that we have towards Catholicism and refers to our past. This image, along with others, is a perfect example of how Garza depicts a strong community union and the role that family plays.