Week 3- Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe (1978), Yolanda M. Lopez

Yolanda M. Lopez is a revolutionary artist that is able to blend multiple layered messages together in one image in a way that creates a more effective message. This piece is one part of three in a triptych collection of Guadalupe related images. In the collection, each one of the three is meant to be a representation of a time period such as past, present, and future. This one specifically is meant to present the past or youth of a Chicana. I really like this image and wanted to write about it because I really loved the amount of details and hidden images that are in the piece. At first glance, this image can be perceived as a sort of perversion toward the religious significance the image is based on due to the runner stepping on the Angel. But looking more in depth, the viewer can see that Lopez is not perverting the significance but instead using it to her advantage in order to show how impactful it is for the Chicana youth to take control of their life and write their own destiny, one that is not based on the standards of society. In the reading, it was brought up that this image is a form of promoting sexual exuberance, however, I disagree because I believe that is representative of a Chicana redefining what a sin is in the context of society. For example, Lopez received criticism because people believed she was hurting the religious significance of La Virgen de Guadalupe but I think it is more of an attempt to eliminate the restrictions that women have in society and instead more of an acceptance for Chicana's to "sin" and live life with freedom even if society sees it as a sin.