Avila, Andrew (Claudia Zapata, & Salam)

 In reading Claudia Zapata’s ChicanX Graphics in the Digital Age, a few assertions are made. First, Zapata asserts that ChicanX artists have “actively participated in each technological paradigm shift”, which in turn “lay the foundation for a new lens of ChicanX study”. What Zapata means by this, is that ChicanX artists have been at the forefront of each of the revolutions of artistic production; chief among these the digital revolution which began in the 1980’s. However, where some find fault with Zapata’s claim in that they exists as notions of erasure, she further asserts that ChicanX participation in the revolutions of artistic production largely exist as modes of offering “new visualizations of political resistance”. Zapata asserts that these new visualizations are based on the model that new ChicanX art forms are incorporated into new forms of art and representation and that “each new medium is never an addition to an old one, and instead never ceases to oppress the older medium until new shapes and positions are established for them”. In this way, Zapata asserts that ChicanX artists have existed at the forefront of each technological paradigm shift, and goes on to explain the means by which ChicanX artists in the digital age “define new visual practices to reveal injustice, [work to] create a more inclusive history of digital art, and expand the definition of graphic arts” for generations to come. 

While I found Zapata’s article informative, and relevant within the context of the digital age of graphic arts, there was one particular work that stood out to me. Xico Gonzalez’s collection of augmented reality portraits titled the Revoltosxs Series, specifically the individual portrait titled Salam, really stood out to me. The Revoltosxs Series, is a culmination of augmented reality portraits supported by HP’s Reveal app, which allows users to interact with these portraits on a multi-media interface. The app works by first allowing users to set up ‘trigger points’ or destinations in the physical world where the portraits are set up. From here, HP Reveal users are able to scan the portraits where they are met with a video narrative explaining the work, and its underlying contexts. Users are also able to view and interact with the artist’s individual profile. This is important because each artist's profile “spans the geographical” and includes a range of different activists and video narratives for users to interact with. Salam’s video narrative activist is Saeeda Islam (Mexican, Pakistani, Muslim activist), who discusses “how her multiple identities are under attack; the beauty of the Islamic faith, and her efforts to connect those around her by emphasizing Islam as a religion of love” in relation to Gonzalez’s portrait Salam. Other video narrative activists that can be found on the interface include Lakota leader Tatanka Iyotake (Sitting Bull), Marsha P. Johnson (transgender activist), and Filipino American labor activist Larry Itliong.