Chavez, Lilibeth (Week 6)

Xandra Ibarra’s piece, Side by Side (Couple), (2020), is interesting in her direct correlation of people and cockroaches, specifically people of color. Likewise it is interesting how through depicting the dead cockroaches she indicates a corollary in human relationships as a social union such that they occur for a defined amount of time. In researching Ibarra’s work, I saw a heavy theme of cockroaches throughout her pieces as well as the idea of molting and life span. I thought it was really interesting how she readapts the stigma of people of color as cockroaches who are generally associated with disease, cleanliness, and infection. Instead Ibarra reclaims the idea and shows how even after molting a cockroach remains a cockroach in a similar way that even if a person of color sheds an identity entirely they too will still just be a person of color underneath. It is hinting at an inescapable reality. What I found particularly interesting about this piece was the way she described both cockroaches dying side by side, and sharing their last moments of life together. I grew up with the idea that we are born alone and die alone but in this case it is a clear depiction of life cycles and the gestation of relationships in ways I had never considered. Also Ibarra highlights the cockroaches in an almost luxurious light, something that would be unthought of normally. Ibarra raises many different aspects of not only race but life and the intersection of stigmas. I would ask Ibarra how people around her respond to her art? I know coming from a very traditional Mexican household, my parents would reject her works as they wouldn't understand it, has she encountered this experience, or would she say she has a less traditional Mexican upbringing in that those around her are more open minded?