Week 10: Reflection (One Artist I Learned About...) - Xandra Ibarra

One artist that incredibly inspired me during this course was Xandra Ibarra, especially during our discussion with her during class. Though I am a big fan of her performance art, I was especially struck by how she explained her work and creative process since it taught me a lot about artistic practice on an intimate level. Specifically, my understanding of her art was predominately enhanced by her focus on art as a raw, personal, and detailed act. I appreciated her honest explanation about performance art as a medium that can energetically charge and drain the artist. Her explanation demonstrated art as an act that is so rich with personal emotion, ideas, experiences, and frustrations. I found her inspiration to be very refreshing and inspiring, since she prioritizes her own complex emotional release and expression.  Though many artists ground their work in solely serving others, Ibarra allows her creative practice to serve herself. I admired her unapologetic artistic inspiration, specifically her desire to act freely without always adhering to external pressure or expectation, whether it is from curators, the public, or other institutions. Our discussion reminded me that an artist is not restrictively tied to any form of projection from others, but must be allowed to openly express internal ideas. Ibarra does not define her work as strictly “Chicanx” or “activist,” but instead defines her work as her own. Though she is an artist who is Chicana and is proud of her identity, she doesn't want her art to be merely reduced to her race. She refuses to let others fetishize her without creating a response or explicitly exposing its injustice. She defends her personal relationship with her own work, which I believe is immensely liberating and profound. Though she does not intend to serve an activist agenda, she still invites her audience to have their own interpretations and draw whatever can benefit their own liberation. Her stance evokes a certain dimensionality that I believe benefits evocative art making and authentic dialogue about art itself. She allows herself to be entirely who she is while also welcoming the larger impact of her work. Though I’ve viewed art as an essentially liberating practice, there is certainly an institutional criteria that is often imposed upon it. However, her art work exposes the illegitimacy of this oppressive limitation, by completely working outside of external assumptions. Ibarra’s radical art form reminded me that art can truly break all barriers in order to relay its message. This was one of the most profound ideas that I learned during this quarter. I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to speak to her about her life and artistic process.