An artist that stood out to me was Laura Aguilar. Her work was nothing like I'd ever seen before. This especially was the reason why I was most attracted to her work. In a world where we are used to seeing women depicted with "ideal" bodies on every magazine, tv show, movie, and advertisement, people like Aguilar are what we need to push more. We've come to normalize this toxic mindset of a "perfect" body, and whether we're too fat or too skin, and Aguilar works against that idea. She has collections of nude pictures that depict her, someone who in today's society would be - and probably has been- fat shamed, going about her life and posing in different places. She does so without a care in the world, but with a great purpose- to show that being big and being different isn't being wrong, and those out there too afraid to accept themselves and love themselves shouldn't care what others have to say. One image that captivated me was the one where she is wrapped in a Mexican and an American flag, and looks as if she's trapped in between them. I personally can identify with this image, because as a Chicana, I have never felt like I was ever "truly" American or Mexican. My family from Mexico would tease me for developing Americanized customs and Americans continuously judge Mexicans and stereotype us as criminals and lazy people. Knowing these things, I didn't feel like I could identify as either, and it took me time to realize, that I am not one or the other, but a combination of both, equally. This image portrays this idea just like I feel it, because she is being tied down by both flags, each preventing her from different things, but both affecting her.
Paola, I very much agree with you, the presentation on Laura Aguilar was something I'd never seen before. Her unique style of art is what really makes her stand out and also keeps viewers interested interested in what she is going to produce next. Being too Mexican to be American and too American to be Mexican is something that many (myself) struggle through and i enjoyed how she incorporated Identity to her art.
ReplyDelete