Sanchez, Emilio

     I am Emilio Sanchez (he/him/his), and I am a third year student majoring in Political Science and Chicanx Studies with a minor in Spanish. I became a Chicanx major because I have struggled with understanding my own Mexican American identity for most of my life. I was born in the U.S. but have dual Mexican citizenship and lived in central Mexico until I was 10 years old, when I moved to San Diego, California. For many years I felt like a Mexican living in the U.S., but after years of going to school, consuming American media, and living in the country, I was undeniably American. It wasn’t until my first Chicano class and meeting other Mexican American students at UCLA that I realized the possibility of Chicanidad as an identity, seeing the cultural hybridity as a whole instead of two halves of different, and often conflicting, identities. Most Chicanx classes I have taken at UCLA mention or include works by Chicanx artists in the course materials, and their portrayals and reinterpretations of American iconography along with Indigenous and Mexican cultures has fascinated me. For example, the constant use of historical figures like Emiliano Zapata and Che Guevara as symbols for social reform mentioned by Carmen Ramos, has turned them into visual icons. Also, the use of indigenous iconography in Yolanda Lopez’ Who’s the illegal alien, pilgrim? (1978), and in Ester Hernandez’ Libertad (1975) transform iconic American visuals and subvert established western ideas of American identity. I had learned about Rupert Garcia briefly in another class, and I am a big fan of his works protesting the Vietnam War. Learning more about the use of posters and colorful visuals and the social and mobilizing reasoning behind them was very interesting, I look forward to learning more about Chicanx Social Practice Art.