Yolanda López, Runner: On My Own (1997) First off, I will be changing my artist for the research project to Margarita Cabrera, a Texas-born Chicana whose art installations largely revolve around US-Mexican relations and the situation and politics of Mexicans living in the United States. As for this week’s study of Yolanda Lopez, one of her works that I found fascinating and relatable were the paintings incorporated in her A Donde Vas Chicana? Getting through College series. I really appreciated the overarching idea of the series and its ability to serve as a means of resistance to derogatory narratives against Latinos that tends to places us in spaces not at all tied to higher education or upward mobility. In terms of the more literal significance of the series, the paintings are autobiographical works that illustrate López navigating the physical space of her campus, an institution that was not (and is still not) catered to students of color like her. As both a woman and a Chicana, the paintings in this series also represent agency and self-sufficiency. Particularly, I love the Runner: On My Own painting from this series. Her independence and autonomy is illustrated by the juxtaposition of the parking lot filled with cars that are a means of moving around, yet she chooses her own path of using her own two feet to get the job done. 

Yolanda López, Runner: On My Own (1997)

First off, I will be changing my artist for the research project to Margarita Cabrera, a Texas-born Chicana whose art installations largely revolve around US-Mexican relations and the situation and politics of Mexicans living in the United States. 

As for this week’s study of Yolanda Lopez, one of her works that I found fascinating and relatable were the paintings incorporated in her A Donde Vas Chicana? Getting through College series. I really appreciated the overarching idea of the series and its ability to serve as a means of resistance to derogatory narratives against Latinos that tends to places us in spaces not at all tied to higher education or upward mobility. In terms of the more literal significance of the series, the paintings are autobiographical works that illustrate López navigating the physical space of her campus, an institution that was not (and is still not) catered to students of color like her. As both a woman and a Chicana, the paintings in this series also represent agency and self-sufficiency. Particularly, I love the Runner: On My Own painting from this series. Her independence and autonomy is illustrated by the juxtaposition of the parking lot filled with cars that are a means of moving around, yet she chooses her own path of using her own two feet to move and transcend through spaces as she pleases.