Week 1

My Name is Norma, I'm a 4th year transfer student. I'm first gen as well as a nontraditional parenting student, my major is Art. Being at UCLA has been such a roller coaster of emotions. I’m very proud to be the first in my family to attend college but as an immigrant have sometimes felt frustrated at the fact that my department pays little to no attention to art made in the rest of the American continent. For the same reason I’ve tried my best to gain the tools to be able to do research based on subjects that interest me personally but that can directly inform my art practice. I have participated in two different research programs, one that was strictly academical and the other was art based. My art practice is research based for the most part focused on identity and feminist politics. While I don't consider myself a feminist, I consider the subjects I touch on as radical views, even today, as they defy social expectations for the female presence. In my work I strive to interrogate the normalized violence again the fem body in juxtaposition with sociopolitical norms. Also, I’m interested in the role the Catholic church has in the acceptance of aggression against women. In the future I hope to dive deeper into the previously mentioned as well as possible feminism in the 1500’s. I’ very curious about the roles women have taken on socially and how those roles have evolved with time.

I look forward to learning more about non-western female art perspectives as this is not something that is though within the art department. Since my first quarter at UCLA I've struggled with the lack of representation of Mexican artistas in the art scene.