Week 3: Yolanda Lopez

I am honestly not sure if the Tableaux Vivant series counts as Lopez's work since the photographs were taken by Susan Mogul. However it is a part of the Guadalupe series, therefore I am gonna write on it. The photographs are another set of self portraits in which Lopez is "playing" among symbols of her Mexican, feminist, and artistic identities; this includes a backdrop of the radiating light that is often reserved for the Guadalupe, as well as candles and paintbrushes. The series is conceptual art and therefore it is not meant to be official but rather a reference for future work. However, I think this is why I enjoy it so much. Often times, conceptual art has a way of being extraordinarily symbolic, so much so that the average viewer might not understand; this series brings about an immediate recognition. The composition reimagines the reverence reserved for La Virgen and applies it to the daily woman. Through these photographs Lopez not only is in control of her own body but also manages to showcase her fearlessness in encountering social and political issues. She demonstrates the ability to be both the creator and the subject, as well as the beauty in rejecting traditional standards— both in beauty and in art. By establishing herself within Virgen iconography, Lopez establishes the ordinary woman among holiness. She is not portraying herself as exalted but rather is playful in her interaction with the camera and thus portrays the ideal Chicana woman as someone who she can relate to, rather than an unattainable exaltation it is herself. These photographs caught my eye the most while reading the book simply because it was not trying to be anything, it was the most relatable. I am sure it was not her intention whatsoever, as it is from what I can tell conceptual art, but the photographs display the fact the Chicana women are worthy of being art. They are worthy of being art as themselves- no gimmicks, no eurocentrism, no reverence. To me, this photos exemplified the idea that Chicana women can be their own role models; they do not have to live in the shadow of someone as "perfect" as patriarchal Catholicism's Virgen.