Shifra Goldman

Shifra Goldman's article "The Iconography of self determination: race, ethnicity, and class" illustrates the journey of Chican@ art. The patterns that Goldman finds within each artwork she discusses is that there is a sense of self-determination within each piece. The artists show how conscious they are of their place in society in terms of race, ethnicity, and class. However, these particular artists find a way to portray themselves into their artwork, slowly dismantling society's views of Chican@s. In 1968, Antonio Bernal painted two murals on the outside walls of Teatro Campesino. On one panel there is a line of pre-Colombian elites while on the other is a group of revolutionaries. On the side that held those revolutionaries, Bernal painted a soldadera leading a group of male revolutionaries. What is significant in Goldman's eyes is that not only is it rare to see women portrayed in artwork during this period, but that Bernal included revolutionaries from the Mexican revolution, the Civil Rights movement, and the Campesino movement, suggesting that they were all interconnected. Goldman regards ethnicity as something that is evolving among Chican@s, which is why Bernal's mural is important to an evolving ethnicity. Class is also what Chican@ artists centered their work around. Topics from deployment to working as campesinos were heavily criticized in these art pieces. Goldman concludes with stating that the Chican@/Latin@ art movement is about cultural resistance, cultural maintenance, and cultural affirmation.

I chose this image from Yolanda M. Lopez because it really struck me as a photograph that began looking into Chicana communities. Lopez creates images that go against societal norms of how Latinas are supposed to be. She captured an image of a Chicana "gang" which reminds its audience that the media is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to portraying what Latin@ communities look like. It is difficult to place these women into a category, rather they represent themselves and feel no need to be bogged down by the way society (especially men) perceive them. The beauty is in their solidarity and their own self-determination.