Edwards, Louisa

Hello, my name is Louisa Edwards (she/her). This is me and my favorite chicken (rooster) Cleopatra; Sadly, he lives with my family and I miss him. I live in Los Angeles and am a fourth year transfer student; I am an Art major and an Art education minor. This year, I am doing a research project (through the URSP which I would highly recommend any/everyone looking into) investigating the sky, how information, including binaries, are permeable and ideas about systems of organizing time and space as directly affected by the cyclicality of nature and the linear structure of human life.

I am interested in this course because Chicanx/Latinx/Mexican/Hispanic peoples, as a minority-majority, are a large part of the U.S. population; however, the narratives and artworks of these peoples are not highlighted enough in much of the canonical history and art history I have received via the educational institution. As a co-conspirer and educator I wish to deepen my understanding of the history and current theory and practice of Chicanx/Latinx artists. This year, I have been teaching supplemental art classes for the LAUSD ABC program for recent migrant families; I would like to become more knowledgeable about artists and artworks created by people who look like and have a similar culture to the students I teach. When I first began studying art, learning about female artists formed pride, inertia, heightened interest and engagement. I am also interested in collective, collaboration and employing work to be more than an art object.

While reading, I was thinking about the contrast between the activism aesthetic of El Movimiento artworks in comparison to a new internet activism aesthetic such as used on the instagram page "so you want to talk about". El Movimiento's aesthetic features emboldened figures with bold lettering and colors namely, black white and red. The activism aesthetic of instagram features soft pastel colors, lettering in fonts like sans serif with little to no imagery. Is this an appropriate and honest way to disseminate information? Does the softness aid in gaining support or does it propagate a culture that views information as a collectable currency for personal gain? Of the vast index of artworks in Ramos Carmen's essay I especially liked Carmen Lomas' La Curandera, It's Simple Steve (artist unknown), Oree Originol's Justice For Our Lives, and Sandra C. Fernandez's Mourning and Dreaming High, con mucha fé.