CARA Exhibition Critique: Alicia Gaspar de Alba

Although I am not an avid art show visitor, or understand much about the art world, I am aware of the overwhelming neglect women receive in any field. Gaspar de Alba discussed the lack of diversity in the CARA exhibit as she viewed and experienced it, multiple times. She described how it was almost unbelievable how little attention women artists were receiving in this showcase, because not only were the number of women in it already limited, but they were also "pushed to the side" - in terms of men being given more attention and being displayed better than the women's work. The Chicanx movement talks about pushing forward and acknowledging the neglect to this community, but within this movement, and in Chicanx culture, there is a lot of toxic masculinity and machismo embedded. This gives rise to an almost normal routine of women having to try twice as hard as men in the same field just to get half the recognition men receive. A quote that struck me was when Gaspar de Alba mentions "what this exclusion says about the sexual politics of the Chicano Art Movement..." A lot of the time artists won't have their work displayed because it isn't at par, but with the art being provided and the quality, it was almost as if the show hosts were explicitly stating that it was because they were women that they weren't going to pick them.