McDonald, Janelle

Hello class, my name is Janelle McDonald and everyone can refer to me as my first name. My pronouns are she/her/hers. This is my senior year at UCLA and I came in as a transfer from Fresno city college . I am a little bummed about how we can’t be in class in person but still glad that we are trying to keep everyone safe. I am an Anthropology major, specifically a cultural anthropologist, and I am taking this class as an elective. I chose to take this class as an elective because I love art, I have taken multiple art history courses but I have never taken one that focused on Chicanx artists and have never taken an art class that didn’t refer to Mexican art work as folk art. To be honest, I am tired of learning about art through a European and ethnocentric frame and want to learn more about Mexican art and the history behind the artists, their art work, and the times in which they created them. I am also an artist myself, who doesn’t get to paint as much as I would like to. I love Frida Kahlo, and I’m sad that unfortunately she is the only female Mexican artist that I am familiar with. I look forward to learning more about Chicanx art and artists. 

 

The reading for this week was very eye opening. It was great to learn about the importance and the multiple functions Chicano prints and posters served, as well as the multiple messages these works voiced. They were statements about politics and cultural events. They raised awareness about plights and injustices of the whole world, and they also stood as a rejection of the western/Eurocentric/American  cultural and societal norms and became symbols of personal affirmations and pride in one’s heritage. What I also found very interesting is that these art works rejected what art is and what art is supposed to look like by Eurocentric/western standards. They combined striking images with phrases, words, and poetry, and were posted everywhere, making visible and accessible to all. They created community and documented and shared the Chicanx history and identity.