Liliana Navarro

During last week's presentations, I was drawn to the work of Lilian Navarro because of its bold style and ability to convey the attitudes and personalities of different women and girls. I also admire that Navarro is so young and such a talented artist, and has already started to sell her work and try to make herself known in the art world and Chicanx community. This painting exemplifies many of the strengths of Navarro's work: she deftly references aspects of Chicanx culture (here, the composition and moon and rose symbols are reminiscent of loteria cards, and the woman is depicted as the Virgin) and imbues each woman she depicts with a unique, yet uniformly spunky personality and look. The woman in this work is depicted with a thoroughly modern makeup look (matte lipstick, groomed eyebrows, and lightly shimmery eyeshadow), yet wears the cloak of the Virgin, tying the history of Chicana women as symbols of motherhood and virtuous femininity to the modern context of third-wave feminism. Navarro's work is overtly political: another work features the slogan "Brown Warrior" over a woman wearing indigenous face paint and jewelry and a Chicano Power pin. Navarro's choice to primarily depict Chicana women is inherently political, as it is a deeply feminist act, as well as a way to highlight the indigeneity of her subjects.