Week 9 Presentations:

I really enjoyed when Afro-Latinx artists were introduced in class because their identity has routinely been excluded from conversations revolving inclusivity of Latinos in media, education, class, community, etc, etc. Lili Bernard is an Afro-Cuban artist and I enjoyed the sheer amount of detail each of her paintings has. I feel like I can write entire papers on just a corner of a piece or a single character in the scene. I am really attracted to bright, colorful images and so I was immediately attracted to this piece, Carnaval en La Trocha. The energy of this painting is very fun, exaggerated, and free and it gives an appropriate feel to how I imagine celebrations and carnavals are when everyone in the community can be comfortable and joyful with one another. I feel like I can hear the music, laughter and yells and I love that my eyes cannot keep up with all these colors and patterns.

I appreciated learning about Bernard the work that she does, especially hearing about her own incidences of sexual assault, especially one that ends up having a lot of publicity to it. I remember the powerful painting she did with her in a straight jacket, and all three woman in the portrait have a tear running down their faces. I felt like I could see that these women had connected experiences of pain and sadness. It made the image much more profound to me and with all of the detail and agony within the faces and storied depictions, I could begin to imagine that pain too and really felt even more empathetic and triggered by the acts of violence that women have to face and, unfortunately, go through every day.