Wooten, Avianna

  Hello Everyone,

I grew up primarily in Jacksonville Florida and I transferred to UCLA in 2016. In the Summer of 2017 I had an internship at the Getty that introduced me more thoroughly to Chicanx Art.. It just so happened that Harry Gamboa Jr. was wrapping up his residency at the Getty, and the Public Programs department was planning a night of playful insurrections to celebrate his contributions as an artist. This event was intended to be fun while simultaneously provoking a forum of serious thought around urgent issues. I asked to be a part of this project, so I got a chance to do research on Chicanx artists. This research prompted more urgent questions for me.

I mean what exactly is Chicanx Art? I remembered reading people, who were Mexican, lambasting a member of Maricon and saying “this is NOT Chicanx Art!” Or even Asco’s stint with LACMA begs the question of how do Chicanx artists move in a world that was grafted around white male subjectivity. Chicanx Art for me is heterogenous and far from monolithic. Yet from "It's Not About the Santa in My Fe, but the Santa Fe in My Santa" we can see that there is an investment for some people to project certain images of what it means to be Chicanx. Anyways, I’m excited to have a chance to hear your perspectives and learn more about Chicana artists.