Yolanda M. Lopez

Yolanda M. López's Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim? (1978) speaks to me as this was one of the first works by Yolanda I was introduced to and then became a part of my collection. In this offset lithograph, we see López's "deliberate play" shine through in the mix of Western and Indigenous iconography. (21) Not only is politic central to Lopez’s work, but her personality also shines through.
Larger than the frame itself we see an Indigenous man, likely of Aztec descent, most notably seen in his regalia as he's flipping the narrative of legality and claiming an ancestral connection to the land when so many Chicana/os and Mexicana/os were told they needed to "go back to México". Not only is there a dignified stance being taken on, but the audience is forced to reflect on the historically accurate positionality of those who violently displaced the Native people of this continent. The figure is also crumpling then-President Jimmy Carter's "immigration plans", reflecting the unjust laws impacting the Mexican and Chicana/o community. One of the reasons I was also originally drawn to this work is because it isn't inherently feminine and without knowledge of who the artist is, some may assume it has been created by a man. I appreciate this aspect of Yolanda's work because she's challenging long-held notions of what a woman's artwork is supposed to embody or the aesthetic parameters it should fit within. It's also interesting to reflect on the ways this work that was created in 1978 remains, unfortunately, completely relevant in today's political landscape and cognitive dissonance about who's land we are on.

Yolanda M. López, Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?, 1978. Offset lithograph, 22 x 17 1/2 inches.