Week 5: Chicana Printmakers

While reading Holly Barnet-Sanchez’s “Where are the Chicana Printmakers?” I was able to gain insight on the presence of Chicana artists during the Chicano Movement and how vital their presence was and how they were being overlooked even amongst their Chicano communities. As Sanchez stated, Chicana artists had a more challenging time establishing themselves as serious artists due to how their male counterparts who were the ones receiving recognition for their depiction of Latinas. The Chicanos throughout history books are always understood to be the ones who make it into being remembered, however, the author notes that it was the Chicanas’ use of absence in what was not depicted in the Chicanas’ works that often told a more honest and believable perspective of the portrayal of Latin women. 

Sanchez goes on to say how even though Chicana artists during the movimiento were not seen to be “in the front lines” it was their works that allowed the rest of the movement to be heard. Thanks to the Chicana printmakers and various organizations during the 1970s, Chicanos were able to spread the word, connect, and march on with the current happenings in their communities. Due to the movimiento being such a pinnacle moment in Latino American culture in the United States, prints during that time became archived, collected, and displayed in museums- allowing for the study and research of Chicana printmakers and artists to become more apparent.