Jimenez-Briseño, Diana: Week 7

Claudia Zapata’s essay “Chicanx Graphics in the Digital Age” offered a new perspective on the significance digital art can hold within the Chicanx and broader Latinx community. Personally, I had thought about digital art as holding a certain level of privilege in terms of the accessibility to use the medium and view the art. Under this impression, I had thought of my family members who are not tech savvy or do not have an internet presence. How would they come to learn of the art that is meant to them, but they cannot see? If art moved to the digital space, how were they to create their own or navigate it? However, reading through Zapata’s essay, I learned that digital art does not always take an obscure path. Digital media in billboards and physical arenas is omnipresent, oftentimes taking up more space than strictly physical art. Digital art is therefore also replicated in areas where Chicanx representation isn’t as vast. The urban spaces that are uplifted and maintained by Chicanx individuals continuously disenfranchise the community through various mechanisms. Art (that is readily seen and consumed) serves as a tool to reclaim identity and power albeit these circumstances. This art also allows Chicanx individuals to vocalize their message in manners that aren’t available through physical mediums, amplifying the variety of voices central to Chicanx issues. Rather than obscure original methods of art creation, digital art serves to accompany the physical medium, projecting purpose through a new lens. Those who wish to participate in the movement may not have access to the physical spaces art occupies, but can still understand the activism through digital means and vice versa. After reflecting on Zapata’s piece, I began to think about all the moments I have been able to see or be part of digital art. Throughout this pandemic, art has been such a vital tool to project the issues, emotional turbulence, and realities we now all face. There are so many things I learned through the digital art space and Zapata’s piece truly does embody the importance it has held since its conception.