Week Ten Discussion Post: Reflection

    Straightforwardly, amid all concepts and creators presented to students across the continuation of the course in the quarter, no one presumingly stood out more to me than Yolanda López. According to personal accounts and opinions, López exemplified the sincere essence of what an artivist is and what bubbling artivists should strive to be like. As expressed by Freebase, "Artivist is a portmanteau word combining "art" and "activist." Artivism developed in recent years while the antiwar and anti-globalization protests emerged and proliferated." Subsequently, López managed to become a lauded and commended artivist on account of several artistic pieces that tapped into a profound political consciousness. Amazingly, she was among one of the first Chicana artists to have obtained such a laurel. Free Los Siete (1969), an offset lithograph on paper, stands as one of these such artworks that tremendously transformed the artistic and political life of Yolanda López and made monumental waves across all of San Fransisco and soon, the United States. The work was created as a responding piece to the arrest and incarceration of seven young Latinos from the Mission District who were accused of shooting and murdering an officer from the San Francisco Police Department. A movement ensued, demanding the liberation and acquitting of all seven men. This became a contentious concern across the peak years of the Chicane Movement and as such, López's artwork was used as a form to raise awareness about what was occurring and speak to the injustices that had long been in existence throughout the Chicane and Latine communities in San Fransisco, all of California, and all of the United States. 
    Amongst everything, Yolanda López and all of the facilitated lectures and discussions of this course, taught me that art has a significant and consequential place within activism. Before all this, I had not considered how interconnected art was with activism and the important role that artivists play, especially within marginalized communities. At the moment, I hold a special appreciation for all prints, all murals, all posters, all individuals who dare speak to politics and injustices in their artworks. I believe my consciousness understanding of art has been transformed forever.

Week Nine Discussion Post: Chicana Futurism

     Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology as assembled by Jennifer A. González, C. Ondine Chavoya, Chon Noriega, Terezita Romo "provides an overview of the history and theory of Chicano/a art from the nineteen-sixties to the present, emphasizing the debates and vocabularies that have played key roles in its conceptualization (Duke University Press). Accordingly, the commission at hand was assumed through the employment of numerous landmark and foundational texts and manifestos. One such which includes the explorative essay Deus ex Machina: Tradition, Technology, and the Chicanafuturist Art of Marion C. Martinez by Catherine S. Ramírez. At present, she formulates an analytical discussion surrounding the visual art of Marion C. Martinez and subsequently generates an explanation for Chicanafuturism. Furthermore, Ramírez characterizes the manners in which Martinez produces and retransforms Indo-Hispanic art forms while speaking to New Mexico's history as a "dumping ground" for chemical and technological waste. 

    Throughout this document, Chicanafuturism is defined as, "Chicano cultural production that attends to cultural transformations resulting from new and everyday technologies (including their detritus); that excavates, creates, and alters narratives of identity, technology, and the future; that interrogates the promises of science and technology; and that redefines humanism and the human (Martinez, 157-158)." As understood, Chicane cultural productions on no occasion remain stagnant. They are continuously undergoing numerous transformations as a result of developing technologies observed and utilized every day. So forth, Chicanafuturism lies responsible for creating newfound concepts on identity, technology, and the future. In all, these become entangled in some form or another. Moreover, this formulated abstraction reconfigures our notions on human beings and human ethnology, especially when discussing women, as Martinez explains in the text that Chicanafuturism was developed to give Chicanas and Hispanas a place to use and discuss technology, whereas this was not done before. This all comes together to aid in the reconstruction of Chicane art as we know it, particularly with regard to the use of technology and technological parts. 

    Marion C. Martinez is a primary example of this reconstruction. With her Indo-Hispanic artistic creations that center santos and Indigenous imageries, she constructs several kinds of magia. Martinez is unlike other Chicana artists like Ester Hernández and Yolanda López, who have offered up reimagined pieces of religious figures, as instead of using computer software to make her works she uses actual pieces of computer parts, along with wood and other materials. These parts all come from various places, donations, the junkyard, so on. Martinez utilizes these worn and seemingly useless computer parts to please her love of all things tech, to stake out her own position within technology and all its uses, and to comment on New Mexico's devastating history as a dumping ground. Stemming from the mid-twentieth century, when scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory detonated the world's first atomic explosion at the Trinity Test site, the state was forevermore changed. As such, Martinez has been adamant in utilizing this bit of history within her version of Indo-Hispanic art as a way to highlight how settlers have transformed New Mexico and speak to the current state of her home state. Thus far, I say she has been successful.

Week Eight Discussion Post: ¡Printing the Revolution! Virtual Conversation Series: From Black and Brown Solidarity to Afro-Latinidad

  

  ¡Printing the Revolution! Virtual Conversation Series: From Black and Brown Solidarity to Afro-Latinidad, as a discussion commission, aimed to concentrate and memorialize "the activist and the cultural dimensions of the civil rights–era [that] fueled solidarity movements between Black and Latinx artists, leaving a visible imprint in the graphic arts that continues to reverberate today (Smithsonian American Art Museum)." To accomplish such a feat, moderator Kaelyn Rodríguez enlisted the sageness and assistance of three artists that have been engrossed with these dilemmas across the decades. Participants include, Malaquias Montoya, a prolific strike poster artist, Favianna Rodriguez, an interdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and activist, and Moses Ros-Suárez, an artist, printmaker, architect, and a member of the Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA, a collective of Dominican American graphic artists. Altogether, the creatives eloquently divulged into the experiences and circumstances that shaped them as individuals and formulated their artistic sense. All three left a profound impression on my conscious. Nevertheless, I was particularly moved by Malaquias Montoya himself, who had much to share about his discovery of Chicanisme and the devotedness he held for printmaking.

    Malaquias Montoya has his origins planted in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nonetheless, he was raised by a single mother in a family of migrant farmworkers in the California Central Valley. His mother would come to have an earnest impact on him, as she is the one responsible for encouraging his artistic habits and helping him realize what justice was. Her greatest dream was for Montoya to create artworks that were grounded in a revolutionary sentiment and that ultimately helped serve the people. Influenced by this fervent dream, he took his talents to the Bay Area, and began creating posters, paintings, and screenprints that portrayed themes such as Palestine, immigration, police brutality, the death penalty, the Chicane Movement, the Zapatista Movement, Black and Brown solidarity, and more. Montoya went on to state in the discussion panel that along with his mother inspiring him to create pieces centered on people and social justice, he was also tremendously moved by Chicanisme and the Chicane Movement as a whole. He shared, "When we decided to call ourselves Chicanes [...] it was like I was reborn [...] It was like I was re-baptized." He obtained an incredible sense of power from a newfound name for an identity he always possessed. And in using that, he went on to create artworks that not only impacted the Chicane community, but that helped spread our messages of need and pride to the world. Hearing Montoya speak so fondly of his Chicane identity tugged at my heartstrings because in a similar way, I too felt a profound sense of strength and encouragement once I came to the conclusion that I am not just Mexican American, but that I am in fact a Xicana.     

    Malaquias Montoya went on to become one of the most celebrated and significant Chicane artists in the history of the Chicane Movement, and with great reason. At present, he still manages several of the workshops he established in East and West Oakland to teach Black and Brown youth the art of silk screening. And, he also holds a professorship at the University of California, Davis, teaching in both the Art and Chicane Studies Departments. It was an absolute pleasure to get to know Montoya through this incredible discussion, I hope to learn more from him in the near future. 

Week Seven Discussion Post: Public Art

     Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology as assembled by Jennifer A. González, C. Ondine Chavoya, Chon Noriega, Terezita Romo "provides an overview of the history and theory of Chicano/a art from the nineteen-sixties to the present, emphasizing the debates and vocabularies that have played key roles in its conceptualization (Duke University Press). As such, the assignment at hand was undertaken through the inclusion of landmark and foundational texts and manifestos. One of which references the case-study document Space, Power, and Youth Culture: Mexican American Graffiti and Chicano Murals in East Los Angeles, Nineteen-Seventy-Two-Nineteen-Seventy-Eight composed by Marcos Sánchez-Tranquilino. Here, he aims to demonstrate that Mexican American graffiti cannot be constituted as vandalism, as it is a visual system generated by Mexican American barrio calligraphers as means to survive, communicate, and "keep a public check on the abuse of power in the streets (Sánchez-Tranquilino, 280). He does this through the incorporation of a study chronicle on the Estrada Courts housing project in East Los Angeles.  Moreover, he seeks to uncover the parallels between Mexican American graffiti and Chicane murals to argue that the graffiti works were a precursor to the murals.

    In all, I was tremendously taken aback at how thorough and thoughtful the essay was. In particular, I appreciated how Sánchez-Tranquilino managed to dissect the intricacies of Mexican American graffiti and observed it for more than what individuals believed it to me. He accurately described it as an artistic visual system that, although associated with gang culture in East Los Angeles, relayed significant messages of defiance and would go on to inspire the next generation of artists from los barrios, Chicane muralists. Previously, I had seen graffiti as merely an extension of a language system that used walls like paper. However, upon reading this article I came to comprehend the sincere artistic labor that went into creating these placas and how much of an impact, both positive and negative, they had on an entire community. Moreover, as I read on I became quite nervous when Sánchez-Tranquilino mentioned that a form of "revitalization" occurred in Estrada Courts wherein the graffiti was taken down and artists were asked to present their works, which were grounded in Chicanisme, on the newly bared walls. I feared that this would be like a type of cultural erasure by outsiders. Though much to my surprise, this project was headed by former members of the Estrada Courts gang. They sought to reconstruct their community and give an avenue of expression to Chicane artists who were just starting out and youth who were at risk of joining gangs and getting into trouble. Overall, I contend that there is much to be learned from analyzing the significances found amongst Mexican American graffiti, as without it, the chances of Chicane art, as created by Chicanes themselves, existing within los barrios is extremely slim.         

Week Six Discussion Post: Rasquachismo

     Straightforwardly, Rasquachismo "is an underdog perspective—a view from los de abajo (Tomas Ybarra Frausto, 85)." Nonetheless, it cannot be compartmentalized into mere notions of ideas or styles. However, it is resoundingly best understood as a form of taste or attitude. One can be or act rasquache, places and objects can be rasquache. As such, people of a lower class will typically never consider themselves to be rasquache or engaging with elements that are rasquache. The particular reason for this circumstance stems from poor and marginalized persons being unable to look at themselves from an outside perspective. Moreover, in certain social spaces, primarily those of esteem, Rasquachismo has come to mean something negative and an indication of severe character flaws. Therefore, no one sees themselves as embodying these attributes, especially when el que diran, is not of importance. Even so, what must be remembered when considering Rasquachismo is that it is a meager response to the harsh realities one confronts. It is rooted in survival and being as resourceful as one can possibly be. In following with Rasquachismo, one must be able to adapt at a moment's notice, and it is important to subvert all ruling paradigms in order to recode yourself and reestablish socially defined boundaries. The foundations of Rasquachismo originate from Mexican vernacular traditions, as it has long pertained to the ever-present and ever-hyper-marginalized lower class. However, in recent decades it has crossed over into the United States and taken on the same meaning with the Chicane populace. It still relates to an underclass perspective and it is most definitely recognized as one or something that is cursi. We all know someone or something that is cursi, but truthfully speaking, do we ever consider what this means? Do we ever consider the relation cursi has to Rasquachismo? Maybe it is time that we do.

    Personally, something that embodies Rasquachismo in my life is my dog, Pumpkin. Pumpkin was taken off the streets by a canine rescue center when someone called in reporting that they had found a newborn puppy thrown inside an industrial trash bin. From here, his entire life was about survival, as he was in such dire condition when he was taken in, that his rescuers were unsure if he was going to make it. Some months later, I came into the shelter, merely browsing, when his handler showed me who he was and I instantly fell in love with him. Over a year has passed now, and Pumpkin is completely healthy and happy in his new home with me. Still, my mother always says he is a little ratita rasquache because he is not at all a perro fino and when he first came to us, he had issues with people coming around his food, as he always felt that someone was going to take it from him. As a dog that had a terrible start at life, he felt that he needed to be on high alert and in survival mode all the time. However, his behavior has settled tremendously and now he is the most loving and protective dog anyone could ask for. He cherishes his human family and his other dog sibling Mateo immensely. Still, I think he will always be ratita rasquache.

Week Five Discussion Post: Guadalupe

    Iconography stands as the "science of identification, description, classification, and interpretation of symbols, themes, and subject matter in the visual arts (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia). As such, iconography can be, and oftentimes is, related to the practice of image veneration. Commonly, this concentrates on exhibiting esteem and bestowing homage to objects that visually represent cherished and sanctified beings and realities. For the Mexican and Chicano populace, one such iconographic character that supersedes them all socially, culturally, and religiously, is none other than La Virgen de Guadalupe. Dubbed as the Patron Saint of Mexico and the Mother of all Mexicans, Guadalupe constitutes something personally significant for all Mexicans and Chicanos everywhere, even those who do not belong to the Roman Catholic Church. I am among those who do not align themselves with any religious sect, and yet, Guadalupe has long held an intrinsic role throughout all points of my existence. In my eyes, she sincerely has always been my mother. 

    As a niña, colorism appeared to contaminate all parts of my person. No matter what, the brown-colored complexion of my skin was always a point of contention and conversation among all members of my family. Although much lighter in the face at present, when I was younger I was one of the more darker-skinned people in all my family, and because of this, I stood out in a negative way. I distinctly remember individuals such as my tías, tíos, and primos repeatedly calling me malicious and distressing nicknames like Prieta, India, India María, and several others Consequently, this led me to become tremendously ashamed of being Indigenous and caused me to have incredibly low self-esteem. Nonetheless, my life was completely transformed when my grandmother reminded me of one thing, La Virgen de Guadalupe had dark-brown skin just like me. And thus, La Morenita, as she is affectionately called by Mexicans, took on a new meaning for me. Guadalupe became a sort of realistic mother figure as she did for me what most mothers do for their daughters. She uplifted me, made me feel beautiful, reassured me of my worth, and above all, protected me from all people who were evil to me in my life. I saw myself reflected in her, and I obtained great pride and power from this. The way I viewed it, not one person could make me feel poorly about the color of my skin because it bared enormous similarities to the most venerated women in all of Mexico. I was like Guadalupe, I looked like Guadalupe because I was her daughter. To this day, I carry her with me everywhere I go. On a gold chain, sparkling for everyone to see her. And that will never change.

Week Four Discussion Post: The Denver Art Museum Presentation Panel

 

    Upon the culmination of twenty-twenty, the Denver Art Museum unveiled the much-anticipated Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism exhibition. As a commemoration of its featured creators and artworks, the museum held a series of panel presentations in January of twenty-twenty-one that posed the question, What Makes Mexican Modernism Relevant Today? One such artist honored amongst the ensemble was none other than Pablo Helguera. Helguera is a New York-based Mexican designer with a number of interdisciplinary works under his belt. He has had the fortune of working on several drawings, sculptures, photographs, and socially engaged creative pieces. Of the bunch, his narration and creations profoundly resonated within me and I was completely drawn in with his presentation. 

    To commence, in his primitive years as an artist, he conducted several interviews with Native Americans and Indigenous Mexicans living in proximity of the United States-Mexico border. He was particularly interested in documenting the narratives of tribes members who were amongst the last individuals in their community to speak their native language. This specific project impacted me immensely as I am an Indigenous Mexicana-Xicana who has unfortunately lost her language. Throughout my life, I have often wondered what it would be like to be able to speak and comprehend my mother tongue. It is a piece of myself I feel that I am missing. However, with Helguera's transformative piece, I was able to gain tremendous insight into the knowledge Indigenous elders possess and their lucha to save and pass forward their sacred languages. Merely hearing about creative piece was so unbelievably moving. 

    Furthermore, I was deeply touched to have learned that Pablo Helguera was tremendously influenced by his uncle, León Helguera, to continue in his artistic pursuits. He even remodeled one of his most prominent pieces depicting American icon, Uncle Sam, presumably during wartime. Pablo Helguera took this illustration and remodeled it to become a protesting piece in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement during the time of the June riots of twenty-twenty. Silence is Compliance as he titled it, further demonstrated not only how talented Helguera is, but showed that he did in fact have a passion for using his creations for good. This piece was all the more important as it proved that non-Black people of color could become conscionable allies that did not overstep their boundaries. 

    In all, I greatly enjoyed the presentation panel that was organized by the Denver Art Museum. I feel that I gained considerable insight from all the testimonials I heard and in the future, I hope to attend more of these amazing events. With chance, may it be in person. 

Week Three Discussion Post: Judithe Hernandez

 

Ni Una Mas! by Judithe Hernandez

    Judithe Hernandez is a Los Angeles–based mural and visual artist that rose to prominence in the seventies as a founding and contributing member of the Chicano Art and Mural Movements in Southern California. She was born in nineteen-forty-eight to Chicano parents whom had migrated to East Los Angeles just short of her birth. Upon becoming inspired by momentous Chican@ events such as the East Los Angeles Student Walkouts, Hernandez launched a quest to unite and organize Chicano artists in the region who had also begun to experience the impact of the Chican@ movement. This coalition of artist-activists sought to bring awareness to the plight of the Chican@ and Mexican people in the United States and formulate a community space where Chican@ artists were free to create and expand upon public perception and knowledge of Chican@ art. Hernandez went on to further her artistic career and involvement in the Chican@ Movement by assisting in the organization of the Chicano Moratorium and creating mural pieces that depicted the realities of Chicanos abroad in Vietnam and here in the United States. In addition, her creations presented the intent and message of the Chicano Moratorium and helped compartmentalize the concerns surrounding the disproportionate rate of Chicano deaths in Southeast Asia for individuals who had not known that this was a problem within the Chican@ community. Astonishingly, her profound commitment to the Chican@ Movement and Chican@ art led her to work with prominent figureheads such as César Chávez from the United Farmworkers Union and Luis Valdez of El Teatro Campesino. 

    Throughout the years, Hernandez has been using her work to comment on numerous social concerns plaguing both the United States and Mexico across several decades. Such concerns include the abuse and violence perpetrated against women and the persecution and oppression of Mexican and Chicano communities in the United States. Subsequently, common topics that Hernandez implements across her creations are related to women, violence, identification, sexual expression, Indigeneity, and Chicanismo. At present, Judithe Hernandez stands as one of the most impactful and significant artists of her generation. What she has done for the Chican@ community and created for Chican@ art, can never be replicated.

Official Website: https://www.judithehernandez.com

Bibliographic References: https://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/13Hernandez_0.pdf and Walls of Empowerment: Chicano/a Indigenist Murals of California by Guisela La Torre (2008).

Week Two Discussion Post: Chicanx Graphics in the Digital Age

How did the emergence of Photoshop impact Chicano reception to the photo-based digital collage, Our Lady, created by Alma Lopez? 

    Across the nineteen-nineties, Photoshop made a prompt appearance as an instrument that had the capabilities to manufacture unrealistic standards about the female physique. Consequently and unsurprisingly, devastating repercussions were apparent in the subsequent critiques hurled at artistic productions created by Chicanx artists. Amongst the passage Chicanx Graphics in the Digital Age, one observes the exact consequences Photoshop had on Our Body, a photo-based digital collage piece put together by Alma Lopez. 

    Behind the controversies, the creative piece was bred from the mere need to reconceive the colonial Mexican visualization and comprehension of La Virgen de Guadalupe. In correspondence, professor and contemporary artist Alma Lopez constructed a Guadalupana that stood queer and shameless and denuded with the exception of intimate undergarments. Important to note in consideration is that as produced by Lopez, Our Lady stands unblemished to any implementation of Photoshop. She was cautious of this matter, as she did not want her Guadalupana to be impacted by any form of digital editing and retouching software that would create an unrealistic portraiture. After all, La Virgen was a woman with scars, marks, blemishes, and all. Why conceal this? 

    Seemingly to no surprise, this sentiment did not resonate with Chicano cultural and religious fanatics in the New Mexico region. According to them, La Virgen de Guadalupe remained sacrosanct, and her likeness should remain quintessential. Guadalupe encapsulated more than the commonplace woman and her sanctitude eliminated any imperfections she perhaps possessed. Hence, comparisons formulated between her and the aforementioned commonplace women were an absolute affront to the Chicano fanatics. 

    Bearing these assumptions in heed and recollecting that fanatics moreover abhorred Our Lady because of its supposed inappropriate and blasphemous representation, it comes as no surprise that an additional absence of Photoshop sent them over the brink. Around the time this digital collage piece was produced, the software known as Photoshop had previously been utilized for almost a decade. As a result, media consumers became accustomed to massively re-edited and retouched portraits and photographs that especially warped their perceptions about the female body. Soon, unrealistic facial and bodily features and proportions became staple standards forced upon women. Should one have appeared to not be in keeping with such standards, shame was subsequently brought upon them. This occurred to Alma Lopez and her photo-based collage. Fanatics and community members held that a resounding concern about this piece was the abnormal female physique demonstrated. In simple terms, they could not permit the image and sanctity of la Virgen de Guadalupe to be soiled by an artistic creation that did nothing more than taint her traditional portrayal. Claudia E. Zapata speaks to this when she shares, "The public's negative reception of the ersatz Our Lady was in part a retaliatory response to the absence of photoshopping by Lopez (138)." No doubt, public reception to the reinterpreted Guadalupana was in a word, unfavorable. However, the question must be posed, would fanatics indeed have been less angered had Alma Lopez used even a small fraction of Photoshop? The answer to this question would produce stark revelations about how negatively Photoshop has influenced and corrupted beauty standards within the Chicanx community. 

    

    

Judithe Hernandez

"The only thing as conspicuous as the artist's skill is her message: being human is hard, a woman harder, and life as a Latina occasionally downright grisly."

         — The Chicago Weekly on Judithe Hernandez 

    Judithe Hernandez is a Los Angeles–based mural and visual artist that rose to prominence in the seventies as a founding and contributing member of the Chicano Art and Mural Movements in Southern California. As a practicing artist-activist, Hernandez has been using her work to comment on numerous social concerns plaguing both the United States and Mexico across several decades. Such concerns include the abuse and violence perpetrated against women and the persecution and oppression of Mexican and Chicano communities in the United States. Subsequently, common topics that Hernandez implements all throughout her work are related to women and femicides, identity, sexuality, Indigeneity, and Chicanismo. 

A project Hernandez brought forth some years ago that piqued my interest was Juarez: Cuidad de la Muerte. The series, which at the moment includes an array of museum installations and pastel on paper and pastel mixed-media on paper works, attempts to shed attention onto the staggering number of unsolved murders of young female factory workers in Ciudad Juarez. These murders have now come to be known as femicides and their prevalence in Juarez as well as throughout Mexico are indicative of the abuse and exploitation that women in the region must confront as apart of their daily lives. 

I have been studying the rise of femicides in Mexico for several years now and the manner in which Hernandez encapsulates the utter torture and devastation of these murders is completely jarring. It is through this series that I came to learn about Judithe Hernandez and I intend to continue to explore more about who she is, what her work represents, and what issues and topics influence her art. 

Orozco, Jaqueline

    Greetings everyone. My given name is Jaqueline Orozco. Nonetheless, I prefer to be called Jackie, as that is the name I am most comfortable using. The pronouns I commonly employ are she/her/hers/they. At the moment, I am a third-year Chicanx and Central American Studies major. However, I am considering taking on an African American Studies or American Indian Studies minor. In addition, I am interested in conducting research on the exploitation of female domestic workers in Los Angeles and the effects of mass migration on Indigenous Mexican communities. I became interested in this course upon noticing that a significant portion of the material would be covering issues concerning gender and sexuality and feminism in art, which I have long been meaning to study and understand in greater depth. Moreover, I am especially interested in this course because I am curious to learn more about the ways in which art has influenced and impacted Chicanx identity. At the conclusion of the quarter, I would have liked to obtain a greater comprehension of all this material. 

    ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now, composed by E. Carmen Ramos, examines the spectacular ascent of Chican@ graphic creators and the works they subsequently produced. These such works became significant in conserving and reconstructing newfound identities and newly-formed or long-established political movements. This piece aims to consider artists and content that rose to prominence during the late twentieth-century and early twenty-first century.
    Several portions of the text captivated a sincere interest within me. In particular, Ramos disclosing the profound impact and historical legacies that Chican@ graphic artists had on civil rights activism was almost completely unfamiliar to me. Nonetheless, I remained intrigued. Undoubtedly, I possessed some awareness about Chican@ graphic creators producing graphic pieces and patterns that were implemented during the East Los Angeles Walkouts. There were banners and handouts shown throughout the demonstrations that contained both significant information about the cause along with heartening messages about Chican@ pride and Brown Power. However, I never considered the notion that Chican@ graphic artists and their creations maintained actual important roles within civil rights activism that often even went beyond the confines of the Chican@ movement and community. Ramos comments on this when she shares, "Chicano posters and prints announced labor strikes and cultural events, raised awareness of the plight of political prisoners, schooled viewers in Third World liberation movements, and, most significantly, challenged the rampant invisibility of Mexican Americans in American society (24 and 25)." This is especially remarkable when one considers that it is through mere graphic art that Chican@ creators managed to forge newfound relationships and lines of solidarity with similarly marginalized groups. It was almost imperative that these unions be formed, as Chican@s could not achieve liberation when other communities remained in a position of subjugation. Graphic art seemed to be the medium that allowed Chican@s to be proper allies, without overstepping their boundaries. 
    To continue, a long-anticipated turn in the implementation of Chican@ graphic art within the Chican@ community, came about during the mid-twentieth century when César Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the National Farm Workers Association joined the Pilipinx farm workers' grape strike in Delano, much to my immense surprise. I could have never fathomed how important graphic artists and their pieces would be to the overall cause. From creating murals to banners to calendars that depicted important figures such as Emiliano Zapata and la Virgen de Guadalupe, artists managed to galvanize an entire Chican@ community and had them further connect with a movement that was all too familiar to them. Last quarter, I studied much about El Teatro Campesino, which was created at the command of César Chavez to educate farmworkers and community members about the evils of the agricultural industry and provide an outlet for them to release their woes and frustrations. And learning what I have from the text, I can definitely draw some parallels between Chican@ theatre and Chican@ graphic art and what they both did for the United Farm Workers Movement and subsequently other causes of the Chican@ movement. It is necessary to consider these creative forms when discussing matters concerning Chican@ identity and the Chican@ movement because so much of what has been built and accomplished in the community has been on the backs of these outlets.                                                                                                                   Across the paper, there are further commentaries made on specific graphic art pieces and creators and important topics that are explored through this medium. As an introductory reading to this course, I believe this text has helped further pique my interest in the subject of this course and has added more to what I aim to learn about. I anticipate anxiously what will come next.