2020CotomJohanna: Week5

Carmen Lomas Garza’s Loteria-Primera Tabla celebrates the everyday activities and traditions of her family and her South Texas Latino community. Just like her painting of “la Loteria-Primera Tabla. I remember growing up, all my family used to get together outside and play loteria for 25 cents. No matter how old you were, as soon as you saw the white fold up table, and heard my tio yelling loteria, you knew to grab your change and be ready to gamble. That was part of our routine every weekend, it was part of how we would come together to celebrate our culture and our family. Similar to Garza, growing up in South Central, many didn't fully understand our culture. I remember one day in middle school we had some sort of “game day” and I brought loteria, and classmates were comparing it to bingo. Garza’s own creation of la loteria, is her way of creating art that would be understood by people of all ages and a way to educate others. And me bringing it to school that day is also a way of representing part of our artistic culture, and allow others to learn from us.