Week 9 Post

In Deux ex Machina, Catherine S. Ramirez discusses how technology, culture, and art come together through the work of Marion C. Martinez. Martinez is a Chicana artist from New Mexico who uses discarded electronic materials as well as items such as computers and other machines within her art. It is her particular intersections of identity and technology that inform how Martinez creates her pieces. For example, she created a reconfiguration of La Virgen de Guadalupe in order to connect futuristic elements with traditional cultural images. Given that Martinez’s work has ties into science and technology, it can be said that Martinez’s image of La Virgen de Guadalupe can be seen as a desire to create a new image for Chicana women and girls. The traditional cultural attitude towards La Virgen positions her as a model against which Chicana women are often compared, this is evidenced by La Virgen de Guadalupe also being considered a well-known archetype for Chicanas. Therefore, by incorporating technology, Martinez depicts the different futures, opportunities, and expectations possible for women.

It was also interesting to see Ramirez discuss “techno-rascuachi” because it can also be said that Martinez follows in the Chicano art tradition of rasquachismo. Rasquachismo describes the repurposing of old materials or materials that are already on hand in order to create new items. This can be done unconsciously at times in order to serve utilitarian purposes, however, it is also a purposeful and intentional creative use of resources that results in new ideas. Martinez’s implementation of technology can be interpreted to mean that she is looking towards the future. With the materials she uses are items previously considered trash which she repurposes for her art. In this way, she is also looking at the past and present. She is looking to the past through her images that have longstanding tradition in her culture, however, she also looks into the past because discarded materials are often forgotten and left behind.