WEEK 4 Rasquachismo & Domesticana

Rasquachismo 

I learned about the term Rasquache which comes from nahuatl origin and has a negative connotation of being lower class or bootleg bad taste and coming from a poor background or uneducated. The art produced by Latinx/ Chicanx people in the Art world is not always looked at as contemporary either and is usually called folkloric work. The term rasquache and rasquachismo always struck me as something odd because it had such negative connotation and it made me want to dig deeper into the meanings behind this all. It stems from colonization and the idea of what Art is and who has the privilege to create Art which historically has always been the rich and even though poor people have always created amazing art it hasn't been a privilege according to those who deem our art primitive. The art seen today that is considered temporary has always drawn from the art of minorities and people of color. In fact the gaze upon supposed primitive,folkloric art is said to inspire artists or where artists can draw new ideas from. So how can it be that an artist can draw inspiration from our art but it can't be called contemporary , rasquache, rasquachismo. 

Domesticana 

This is the first time that I hear of the term Domesticana, at first I thought of domestic work and connected that to domestic art pieces or something related to that context. As I read about this term I learned Domesticana was also a term used to highlight art forms produced by Chicanx people. Like Rasquachismo, the term Domesticana at first also had a negative connotation associated with low forms of cultural Art only used to draw inspiration from or seen as storytelling folkloric art work. It included artwork that reframed the idea of Art and Rasquache art for men and women. With this art came the critiquing of gendered expectations and as well as aesthetic hierarchies which determined what art was supposed to look like. This was similar to the rasquache counterpart but in itself its own movement to fight for space within Art public and private space. This was a major contribution to art because women added another layer to what was considered art and also challenged society's ideas on who could create art. Although Domesticana takes from Rasquache it had to take space to prove to the world it was alive. It's not only a fight for space but also a critique on the dominant culture and gaze which demeans the space in which women of latinx background create.