CARA Response

After reading the author's writings on CARA's Politics or representations, I am very pleased to be taking this course.  My reason to take the class was to learn more about perspectives other than my own.  This reading has definitely done that for me.  I had never heard of the Chicano art collective Las Mujeres Muralistas.  Made up of three chicanas, Patricia Rodriguez, Graciela Carrillo, and Irene Perez and the Venezuela Consuelo Mendez. Although this group had completed eleven murals, mostly in the Mission District in San Francisco, they were not chosen to be represented in this exhibit.  Instead, the organizers of CARA chose to focus on three all male Chicano art collectives.  ASCO, the Royal Chicano Air force, and Los Four.  I have heard of the Royal Chicano Air Force from my father in our many trips down memory lane and to Chicano Park, where they painted several of the murals.  This lack of representation is what leads to the marginalization of minorities in the mainstream, and in this case Chicanas.  When marginalized people try to push others beneath them, it leads to the further disenfranchisement and division amongst those who should be allies.  I am glad that this author is speaking up on this issue and is trying to highlight a wrong that had been done, whether intentional or not.  Hopefully, in the future this can lead to further inclusion when speaking of the movimiento.

My question for the professor would be, do you think this kind of writing will lead to further inclusion of Chicano artists?  Thank you for coming to speak to our class.