The Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (CARA) Exhibition permitted Chicanos and Chicanas to tell their stories through their artwork. Finally Chicano/a artists exposing the true meaning of what it is to be a Chicano and the struggles of the Chicano Movement. Although they finally had received a platform to showcase various issues, they lacked to represent women’s viewpoints. The exclusion of Chicana artist participation, showcases the sexual politics within the Chicano Movement. And it goes way back to the power dynamic among the Chicano/a community. Old popular belief, involved women being subordinates to men, as they were outranked by the powerful, knowledgeable ones. Chicanas have been discriminated against, from the greater community, and amongst their own. The Chicano artist that would attempt to incorporate Chicana’s viewpoints, usually symbolized them as Virgins. Chicanas were a representation of motherhood, by machistas who thought that was the only thing women can achieve. As a Mexicana myself, I still sometimes encounter that machista viewpoint, where they believe women are only good for marriage. Like Gaspar de Alba mentions, women were sent to higher education to find an educated husband, not to create art that fights against these injustices. Men attacked those that were creating art of such nature, they felt it was not a woman's job to be doing such atrocities.
Question: Going through this class, I noticed Chicana Artist receive a lot of negative backlash, of course from Chicanos. But also from conservative Chicanas. How do you deal with that? Seeing that you would think, other women (Chicanas) would understand where you are coming from.
No comments:
Post a Comment