Week 5: La Vigen de Guadalupe

    Coming from a non practicing Catholic household. I was baptized as a baby, but did not go through with Catholicism. Religion was not passed on to my mom and dad from their parents, so going to church was served as a punishment as we were kids. I do like to believe in a spiritual being, and someone to look up to sometimes. 

    As an overly sensitive artist, I worry too much of what other's thing of me if I wanting to paint something I find beautiful. After watching the documentary about La Virgen de Guadalupe, I'm thinking about actually going for it. I think La Virgen de Guadalupe in a beautiful feminist figure, although I do not know much about her spiritually icon. I would say I am in the same shoes as Ester Hernández, coming from little to no knowledge of this icon, however you see her as an "it" being so mass produced. I love how Yolanda López translated her into a strong women feminist figure such as the girl doing karate, and that her inspiration was her grandmother. 

    I thought it was interesting that some people believed it was disrespectful, for a different depiction of La Virgen. However, art is very expressive to the artist and I felt their explanations were out of context. I did understand that they feel Guadalupe was their mother, but the people that said they don't want to see their mother in a bikini was a dumb excuse for something that is as permanent as art on paper. The only disrespect of the icon is vandalism without reasoning. There is no harm in expressing your mother or grandmother as an interpretation as an icon as those already connect their mother's to the icon. 

      It wasn't until now, that I learned that Mary and La Virgen are not the same icons from different regions. I honestly do not know too much about La Virgen. After years of so many Art History courses, I mostly learned about the European style of Mary. I know that they differentiate between the colors of their mantles and the complexion of their skin when looking into different regions.