Jack
Ironstone
1/23/2020
Week #3
Yolanda Lopez offers a wealth of
space to investigate Chicana identity with a queer framework. Themes such as multidimensionality
and play resonate with me strongly in her work. In Eclipse (1981), López plays with Guadalupe as an
active site of negotiation with religion, politics, and culture that seriously
impacts women’s lives. The characters in the work: Saturn, Guadalupe,
Indigenous Guadalupe, and the Runner pair juxtapose each other in a spatial
hierarchy such that the Runner pair is at the top while the traditional Guadalupe
figure is at the bottom. Outlining the bottom of the collage is a series of
rhyming photographs of the planet Saturn, suggesting a uniformity and ‘othered’
lens: to be looking at the planet on different land. At the top with the Runner
pair is the planet Saturn in whole solitude, suggesting an independence both in
size and in contrast. López reveals the limited nature of the Traditional Guadalupe
in Eclipse by pairing two versions of the Virgin
together to critique the conservative religio-patriarchy that shows women as
bound. Juxtaposing the double-set Virgin is the Indigenous, liberated
counterpart, whose physical intimacy with her child is emphasized by a red aura
that pushes her out of the frame. She cannot be contained. The double set of
the Runner, independent and skin-showing, also potentially running from the
frame, illustrates the call to embrace the full spectrum of Chicana identity to
celebrate existence. Eclipse
weaves together ideas of gender, liberation, and space in a work that serves as
a compass to the future for which López dreams.
Hi Jack!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your observations on this piece! Just like you, this is probably one of my favorite pieces by Yolanda Lopez. I thought it beautifully depicted her identity as a Chicana and also the references she made to gender, class and religion! My favorite thing about this piece was the mixing of objects and saturn was my absolute favorite as it represents solitude.