Week 8 Presentations: Harmonia Rosales

The artist that impacted me the most from this week’s presentation is Harmonia Rosales. Rosales identifies as an Afro-Cuban American, her artwork is based in Chicago and influenced by her love for history and dedication to social action. Her work reflects her upbringing as a woman of color and the experiences and obstacles that this entailed. Rosales has been able to use her art as a weapon of resistance to the injustices faced by people of color.

One of Rosales most impactful collections is called B.I.T.C.H which stands for Black Imaginary to Counter-Hegemony. Through this collection, the artist had replaced historically white figures which figures that she believes should be in their place. This includes women of color that have had an impact in history. One of her most controversial pieces was her recreation of God as a black woman through the painting, “Creation of Adam.” Rosales received backlash and discontent from the audience who felt as if though she was disrespecting an image that should never be touched. On the other hand, Rosales responded by stating that a man painted our perception of God and in reality, we have no idea what God looks like, yet, we’ve never questioned those images but question hers because it’s the figure of a black female. This image and the meaning behind it reminded me of the same situation that occurred with Chicana artist who has painted and interpreted their representation of La Virgen de Guadalupe and has received extreme backlash for their actions. I like that the artist took the initiative to do this image and challenged the idea that historical pieces of art should be changed, especially if these are not an accurate representation of our people and our struggle.