Yolanda M. Lopez-- Running: On My Own

      Yolanda Lopez was a visual artist who varied a lot in the style of art she used to portray her visions and voice. During her ¿A Donde Vas, Chicana? series, the artist used her love of running to portray herself running throughout her campus at the University of California, San Diego. During her graduate experience, much like many first-generation college students, she had to adjust a lot to the environment around her to "get through school" which seems to be a common theme amongst students who are out there to prove their parents' hard work while dismissing the struggles they face to show that. Throughout the series, Yolanda is jumping on and off the frame of the scene portrayed and I chose to talk about specifically the last piece of the seven done for the series, Running: On My Own. 
      In the last piece, Yolanda is seen almost mounting off the screen, meant to portray her accomplishments as a changing student on her campus and into the future, with so much gained strength from both her newfound love of physical activity and love of herself as a Chicana. This can be seen throughout the series in which she goes from being in black & white to color, with an emphasis on her clothing transforming into the traditional colors of the robes of La Virgen de Guadalupe. I found it very empowering for her to show herself stomping over these predominantly white spaces that were never really created for her or women like her. Yet, there she is, a powerful Latina, using the environment around her and really optimizing her accessibility to it in being able to cruise throughout the scenes. This last photo shows a real triumph as you see Lopez seems to be running over to the top of this hill, with her school in the background as she jumps forward to leave it behind-- a triumph every brown student is hoping to achieve as visible as Yolanda has made herself in these images.