The artist that caught my attention the most during this week's presentations was Liliana Navarro. She is a 19 year old Chicana from San Francisco. Her work is mostly made out of acrylic paint; which also reflect self-portraits. Navarro is a young and politically active women, who also expresses women empowerment through her art work. I found it very interesting the fact that she also connects her work with her indigenous roots.
One of Navarro's self-portrait that my classmate presented during class was called "Brown Warrior". This was Navarro's first self-portrait ever made. With this work, she wanted to portray her indigenous culture and identity. As its evident from the art piece, the background is blank because she wanted the self-portrait to be the main focus of the image. This image portrays a women's face painted with an indigenous painting, she has jewelry, and a Chicano Power pin. In my opinion, I felt that the depiction of indigenous women is very empowering due to the fact that throughout history it has been evident that they have suffered the most feminicide. I truly loved the image because as a Latina, it helped me reflect upon myself and also reminded me that it's always important to hold on to our roots. For example, thinking about women empowerment made me think about the recent murder of an indigenous descendant woman. Her name was Claudia Gonzalez and she was from Guatemala. After migrating to the United States, she was killed in the Texas border by a U.S. border patrol agent. This makes me sad and disappoints me because it's unbelievable how inhuman things like this can happen. Where is the justice when it comes to situations like these?
One of Navarro's self-portrait that my classmate presented during class was called "Brown Warrior". This was Navarro's first self-portrait ever made. With this work, she wanted to portray her indigenous culture and identity. As its evident from the art piece, the background is blank because she wanted the self-portrait to be the main focus of the image. This image portrays a women's face painted with an indigenous painting, she has jewelry, and a Chicano Power pin. In my opinion, I felt that the depiction of indigenous women is very empowering due to the fact that throughout history it has been evident that they have suffered the most feminicide. I truly loved the image because as a Latina, it helped me reflect upon myself and also reminded me that it's always important to hold on to our roots. For example, thinking about women empowerment made me think about the recent murder of an indigenous descendant woman. Her name was Claudia Gonzalez and she was from Guatemala. After migrating to the United States, she was killed in the Texas border by a U.S. border patrol agent. This makes me sad and disappoints me because it's unbelievable how inhuman things like this can happen. Where is the justice when it comes to situations like these?
I love that Navarro's portrait celebrates indigeneity and brown bodies. I agree agree with you, Claudia Gonzalez deserves justice for being killed by ICE! No human being is illegal and should not be murdered for migrating on native lands!It is upsetting that we live in a society/system where borders are far important than the human life. This is why I believe art such as Navarro's artwork is important because it reminds us of our indigenous heritage and how many indigenous people continue to be marginalized. Therefore, we need to strive for social change and aid those communities in need.
ReplyDelete