CARA Reflection

Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whores Mask by Alicia Gaspar de Alba takes us as readers into the deeper meanings of Chicana feminist art by dissacociating it with the ill representation in the CARA exhibit. In the first section on gender politics, Alba makes it known that although the CARA exhibit was a Chicano/a art exhibit promoting inclusion of the Chicano/a perspective there still was blatant sexual tension and division internally shown by the stark ratio of male to female art shown in the exhibition, a few examples include of 54 mural images shown only 7 were female these lop sided representations continued with each different section of the exhibition that led to a further discussion on what the movimiento really meant to Chicanos and not to Chicanas. The prevalence or lack of women perspectives being taken as equal among the male patriarchy of the movement and especially among the machismo image propagated further unrealistic ideals of the Chicana as either “Malinches” or “Adelitas” with both of these images sharing the common denominator of the biological aspect of pleasing men, although not primarily yet it is argued as a big factor. Along with these images being pushed into the Chicano norm there also was no room for lesbian, femenism, or queer persepctives, as stated by Alba. And for the few feminist Chicana arts that were on display, compared to male depictions of Chicanas, there continued a divide on the internal perception. This was shown with Daniel Galvez’s Homegirl #1 and Judith Bacas’ Las Tres Marias; although both of these subjectively represent what a “Chicana” is, Galvez’s Chicana depiction is much more sexualized and sculpted by the homeboys ideal Chicana than Baca’s where Alba points out the clear separation of realities among the Chicano/a gender strife. Ultimately, Alba’s essay on the patriarchal nature of the Chicano movement serves to set the ground for future discourse and a wider and closer look at the arts that are canonized in Chicano/a art circles that heavily favor the male perspective ,where now in todays time, more and more Chicana representation is being highlighted it comes to show how marginalized the Chicana was, and still is. I enjoyed this piece of gender inquiry where in reality it goes beyond gender into how the Chicano/a movement has a large familial base that was born on the pedestal of conservative Catholicism and how these seeds have bore fruits of rebellion in today through Chicana femenist art. One question Id like to ask Alba is although most definitions describe the Chicano/a movement as much American as it is Mexican why is Chicana Feminism considered a 3rd world identified movement?