Week 5 - Josefa-Juanita by artist Liz Rodriguez - Chon Noriega et al. article

In the article by Chon Noriega et al., about the Just Another Poster? Chicano Graphic Arts in California/¿Sólo un cartel más? Artes gráficas chicanas en California, exhibit, one image captured my attention the most. It was Patricia or Liz Rodriguez’s Josefa-Juanita (1977), an artwork made for a calendar, that as noted, calendars are usually made for cheery uplifting messages as people glance at a calendar on a daily basis. In particular this article and the exhibit happened in 2001, which I believe more people then were still accustomed to functioning with a physical calendar as opposed to the digital one’s we rely on today. I state this to point out that not only is the subject matter of physical abuse a heavy topic, but to anyone that had this calendar back then, it was a daily reminder of a heavy burden experienced by women, for someone, for the entire month, to contemplate the seriousness of domestic abuse. Physical abuse is something still not under control, in particular to 2020. Nineteen years since this article published and we are living in a time where patriarchy under the current Trump administration has seemed to push back on everything to do with diversity and Civil Rights gains that include all the gains made from women’s rights and Chicana feminist. It seems that since the guilty verdict of Bill Cosby, to the current trials with Harvey Weinstein, that issues like wage disparity would have been next on the list of important matters to get closer to parity with men, still in the 21^st century; but a complete reversal of momentum for women’s rights have arisen since Trump. His conservative and evangelical political support appears to be unwinding the ability of women’s choice over their own bodies at every chance they get. This is hardly the end of this struggle, but sadly the legislation over women’s bodies is still happening under the sway of old white men, and surprisingly under some white women, with antiquated notions of what is best for secular, independent women and women of color; of which all legislation should be determined mainly by a group of women representative of the nation’s population. Interestingly, the article also noted how Rodriguez’s image is often mistaken for a male figure’s profile as well, which makes this artwork still relevant and timely, since it can also address the physical abuses and violence experienced by transgender people as well.