Yolanda M. Lopez: Your Vote Has Power

I feel like the work of Yolanda Lopez is important in how she often challenges the misconception that knowledge and power are only produced and absorbed in a traditional classroom setting. She does so by addressing and challenging issues like heteropatriarchy, nationalism, white supremacy and classism, even more than they lecture in a college classroom. As Davalos explains herself, “Activism became the training ground for [Lopez’s] artistic vision and identity; it would supplant her formal education in this respect,” showcasing how Lopez’s art meant more than a hobby because they each held a message for activism (24).

For me, the most important work she did was surrounding Chicana and Mexicana feminism as showcased in her work, Your Vote Has Power, which was a part of her “Women’s Work Is Never Done” series in 1997.  For this piece, Davalos explains that Lopez wanted to frighten the then-governor Pete Wilson who supported California Proposition 187, that was supposed to prohibit undocumented folks from getting healthcare or access to education, with an image of a “fertile Latina who votes” (56).