Carmen Lomas Garza

As a child, I remember going through Carmen Lomas Garza's book, Family Pictures/ Cuadros de Familia and deciding which person in the picture I was and assigning all the people in her pictures names and pretending it was my family who was drawn in the pictures. As a kid, I never gave much thought as to why I liked going through that book, but as an adult, I see that it was because I found a picture and book that directly related to my life, culture, and upbringing. In looking back at the pictures in Family Pictures, I remember going through the picture, Barbacoa para Cumpleaños (above). This picture reminded me of the carne asadas that my family would have when I was young, and I remember liking this picture in Garza's book specifically. In looking at this picture now I see that although her pictures are "childish" in a sense that they can easily be confused with a children's book illustration, they are full of color and are drawn from memory. Something that I also enjoy about the picture is the way in which Garza's culture and traditions are portrayed and the way that she was able to capture her childhood.