Rodriguez, Sasha (Week 9)

 As another week of presentation goes by we were once again introduced to many artists ranging from the end of our public art form to now seeing artists who identify themselves as painters. Andrew Avila presented on an artist who goes by the title By Ayala that makes art inspired to embrace and empower all cultures. Her art is reclaiming not just Latino culture but Native Americans and people of color. The work that caught my attention was “Chola Lisa” which made me feel very prideful. The Mona Lisa is a very well know piece of work and is described as iconic, which is very heavily displays European standards of beauty. If you think about it in the past there were no notable art pieces that portrayed people outside those standards. When thinking about classic art that features people like “Girl with a Pearl Earring” or “The Birth of Venus” it is an art that only represents one kind of beauty. Looking at the “Chola Lisa” taking this idea of beauty and how art should look like and turning it into something that represents a very different community. Women who are considered Cholas are not always viewed in the best lighting as the original “Mona Lisa”. They have an impossible beauty standard to live up to and the way Ayala painted the piece makes the character Chola Lisa feel elegant, beautiful, and still her with tattoos, giant hoop earrings, and the bold makeup style that is prominent in a lot of Latinx communities. She looks stunning and By Ayala does that to a lot of pieces she creates. Using bold vibrant colors that come together to create pieces that embark on confidence in a beautiful way. Using other cultures as well to honor and portray people in this light of not dimming their own shine and reclaiming the idea of what should be the standard of beauty.