Wow, I can’t believe this quarter is over already. I think the most influential (to me) topic in Chicanx Art that we covered was that of the Virgen de Guadalupe. She is so engrained into Chicanx culture that I didn’t notice her or even question her. Now I notice her painted on the back of food trucks and store walls.
Another paradigm shift that I had was when reading Chaz Borquez’s “Graffiti.” It never occurred to me to see graffiti as art. It never occurred to me that graffiti also had political connotations. Now I see graffiti on billboards and think to myself why the billboard acceptable, but the graffiti is not? They both take up public space. Billboards are an eyesore. They distract, they pollute public air space, and they cause accidents. But a political message that says, “I’m here, I exist” is the one that’s wrong? I will never see graffiti the same again.
Carmen Lomas Garza was my favorite artist from this quarter. I think majoring in Chicanx studies has left me numb towards political messages. I really appreciate activist pieces such as Yolanda Lopez’s, Who’s the Immigrant, Pilgrim?, but felt that they would sow a divide between our communities instead of bringing us together. Lomas Garza’s art focuses on the beauty of everyday Chicanx culture. There’s something liberating in seeing myself and my family in her pieces.
Hi Chris, I can't believe that this quarter is almost over as well. I enjoyed reading your post and I too was really impacted from learning about the Virgen de Guadalupe. I never knew her significance to Chicanx culture and I also always thought she was the Virgin Mary when I would see her around my town. Im glad that I now know who she is, her history, how to tell it is her, and her significance to Mexico because I think it is really important to now these types of things because it is important history.
ReplyDeleteSame! It went by so slow. Also, I really admired how the imagery behind the artists who used La Virgen to incorporate with their own art was a wonderful execution of balancing the earthly, spiritual realm, and the divine feminine.
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