Flores, Simoné

Hello! My name is Simoné Monique Flores. Please call me Simoné (Simone is fine, if you can’t find the accent.) My pronouns are she, her, hers. I am an Art History major and I am minoring in Chicana/o studies. My focus is on learning about my roots and where I came from. I would like to learn more about Mesoamerica and the Philippines (Pre/Postcolonial: culture, heritage, ethics, and art forms.) I just transferred to UCLA from Mount San Antonio College last quarter. My hobbies are drawing, painting, photography and illustrating. I admire the different styles and evolution of pottery and tapestry as well as other forms of expression in reference to the culture. In this course, I’m interested in learning more Mexican artist and learning about the history that you wouldn’t learn about in primary education. 

This class would help me gain a sense of identity because growing up I’ve always felt misplaced for not being fully represented in either of my ethnic backgrounds. As an artist myself I feel the longing to trace back to other artists of the past to help me find who I am. 

As for my academic goals, I hope to graduate with my Bachelors by Fall 2022. I would like to learn more about myself, and gain more inspiration for my thesis. In the near future, I would like to work with children as an art teacher to emphasize that academic art is not the only type of art that matters. To prevent young artists from becoming discouraged and giving up because their style is different than others. My main goal is to teach Art History as a Professor, generalizing in mesoamerica and pacific islanders. I’m excited to begin and ready to research!

In this weeks reading of ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics in 1965 to Now the focus is on 1960s, the rise of the Chicano civil rights movement also known as El Movimiento. These images express the voices and the issues that Chicano/as had come across during this time. Which are still issues today. In Richard Favela’s Boycott Grapes & Lettuce from 1976. The issue of the workers continuously sacrificing their lives for low wage in order to support their families. Within the archive found in the reading, it was common these images were screen printed posters. By using contouring and blocking of colors, that is easily reproduced like pop art. These works tended to be political and are still used today for other movements to emphasize the injustices of minorities. In Oree Originol’s series Justice for Our Lives was a public installation of screen printed portraits of the lives lost and is continued in real time. This series of monochrome faces looking back at the viewer each tell a story of the life that was lost to police brutality and waters down the justice system with once living proof.