One artist that really stood out to me was Stephanie Mercado. The initial image that caught my attention from the presentation was the one with the woman in the black and white maid uniform that was staring at what appeared to be a castle in the very far distance. The reason why this image stood out to me was because of that castle and the very enchanted vibe that the image gave off. I looked up some more of her work and stumbled upon this image that I have included and it’s ironic in how it resembles a sort of twisted version of Cinderella. In the image we see a castle and a young girl running away from that castle, (with a third leg?) which is painted in a way to represent a poster flyer that is advertising some sort of house cleaning service. When looking further at the image, we see the bottom of the image that has little phone tabs that people can pull off if they are interested in whatever it is that is being advertised, in this case being someone who cleans homes. During the presentation, it was explained how Mercado has a whole series that is dedicated to maids and housekeepers and this image is part of that series. This series was explained to show the power and class disparities between different races while also showing human relationships. Mercado explains her work merges fashion, paintings, printmaking and historical European imagery regarding identity construction. She uses her art work to show wealth, imperialism, and what she explains as the pursuit of the American Dream and the struggle that follows that “dream.” Mercado explains that each image in this collection has a character that seems to be caught between reality and a mystical or deformed world which is misshapen due to the people who are constantly controlling their environment.
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