Reflection

I was most interested in learning about the younger generation of working Chicana artists, such as Kim Bjanes or Liliana Navarro. It was clear that Navarro, for example, had been influenced by earlier Chicana artists and the politics of the Chicanx movement, but makes an effort to make her work feel modern by highlighting her subjects' trendy clothes, hairstyles, and makeup. She delights in painting young women with groomed eyebrows and center-parted hair wearing yellow tank tops and 80s-style glasses, raising their fists in solidarity in front of Aztec pyramids. Navarro emphasizes that she is an indigenous Xicana and doesn't refer to herself as a Chicana, and consistently uses indigenous motifs. Her work made me notice that many other Chicana artists address their Mexican and Mexican American identity rather than their indigenous identity, and I would love to learn more about Xicana artists specifically. I was also fascinated by how younger artists like Kim Bjanes used social media, particularly Instagram, and apparel to spread their message as far as possible. I believe Instagram is a powerful tool for young Chicana artists, who may not be able to exhibit their work in galleries because of institutionalized racism, sexism, and classism, to advertise their work and even use the platform as a type of exhibition or curatorial space, which Guadalupe Rosales has done. I would love to see more scholarly work on Chicana artists who are starting or just reaching the peaks of their careers, because I think it is important for young Chicanas who might want to become artists to have role models who are closer to their age.