Week Two Claudia Zapata Post

How has technology affected how Chicanx/Latinx art is created, spread and consumed?

Technology has allowed artists to explore their creativity as they have constructed new ways to share their art through mediums such as interactive websites while also shifting how information spreads via art with the use of technological tools such as social media. This has been seen with artists such as Jacalyn Lopez Garcia, who created Glass Houses, a website containing art and elements of her life that gives the person navigating it some insight into her life and her relationship to her culture.

Art has long been used to spread information and take a political stance, which has only been facilitated by technology. Artist Favianna Rodriguez contributes to sharing knowledge of tools that can be used to further disseminate messages. Her website offers free information regarding how to stencil banners for protests. Artivists such as Rodriguez have been able to garner attention to the important issues, such as those that undocumented immigrants face. Another artivist who has done similar work is Julio Salgado, who was able to use Tumblr to connect with undocumented queer people. They shared their experiences and he was able to create digital portraits to reflect the things that undocumented queer people face. In this way, technology has also made it easier for Chicanx artists to connect with their community and create art that reflects the issues specific to their community.

Politics and art is not new, however, technology has made it easier to share political art with multitudes of people. Claudia Zapata describes that these shifts towards increased sharing and participation are in large part due to the creation and widespread use of social media, which is a part of the Web 2.0. Therefore, technology has been an important tool that artists have taken advantage of in order to create innovative works and share often suppressed narratives.