AlfordTylainaJui

 Hello, my name is Tylaina Alford and I am a first-year, first-generation, non-traditional, first-year transfer at UCLA. I am an African-American studies major and for my career goal, I want to challenge African-Americans' social inequalities. My aspiration is to research growth in prison systems and why African-Americans put in these barriers have miniature or no social mobility. Along with this passion, I am also a visual artist. Personally, I look at art through many lenses because it is my escape and helped me through social disadvantages with being Black, a woman, and of low-income. Specifically, I like to focus on female empowerment as it is my own unique way of shining light on myself and women in my community. For example, in my drawings, I emphasize different shapes, sizes, hair textures and colors of Black women. Personally, I want to implement art activism within these prison-systems also, in low-income schools. I believe that lack of social mobility causes lack of education that increases percentages in prison-systems. This is affected by low-income, underrepresented communities. I feel as though art is a form of mental liberation although marginalization causes physical bondage. Essentially, I want to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline using art, activism and agency.

In the article "Conditions of Improving Chicana Art" one can see the challenge of being an underrepresented artists in mainstream society. Art is seemed as form of expression of any creative regardless of race or social status. However in reality, credit and exposure is usually given mostly to White men. This is because of White Patriarchy and dominance they have over society. Creative freedom is challenged in the art culture because patriarchy shapes their social norms represented in a hierarchy. Female representations in art is a critical element to Mexican culture because it reflects ideas and experiences of the Chicanx community.