Chicana Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American iden ...

art emerged as part of the

Chicano Movement The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican descent, especially of Pachucos in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Black ...

in the 1960s. It used art to express political and social resistance through different art mediums. Chicana artists explore and interrogate traditional

Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

values and embody feminist themes through different mediums such as murals, painting, and photography. The momentum created from the Chicano Movement spurred a ''Chicano Renaissance'' among Chicanas and Chicanos. Artists voiced their concerns about opression and empowerment in all areas of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Chicana feminist artists and Anglo-feminist took a different approach in the way they collaborated and made their work during the 1970's. Chicana feminist artists utilized artistic collaborations and collectives that included men, while Anglo-feminist artists generally utilized women-only participants.Art has been used as a cultural reclamation process for Chicana and Chicano artists allowing them to be proud of their roots by combining art styles to illustrate their multi-cultured lives.

The Woman's Building (1973–1991)

The

Woman's Building The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic de ...

opened in

Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1973. In addition to housing women-owned businesses, the center held multiple art galleries and studio spaces.

Women of color The term "person of color" (plural, : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "White people, white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily a ...

, including Chicanas, historically experienced racism and discrimination within the building from white feminists. Not many Chicana artists were allowed to participate in the Woman's Building's exhibitions or shows. Chicana artists Olivia Sanchez and Rosalyn Mesquite were among the few included. Additionally, the group ''Las Chicanas'' exhibited ''Venas de la Mujer in 1976.''

Social Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)

In 1976, co-founders

Judy Baca Judith Francisca Baca (born September 20, 1946) is an American artist, activist, and professor of Chicano studies, world arts, and cultures based at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the co-founder and artistic director of the So ...

(the only Chicana),

Christina Schlesinger Christina Schlesinger (born November 19, 1946) is an American painter and muralist. Daughter of historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., she sought independence from her family's fame, practiced “protest art”, and came out as a lesbian. She made s ...

, and

Donna Deitch Donna Deitch (born June 8, 1945, San Francisco, California) is an American film and television director, producer, and writer best known for her 1985 film ''Desert Hearts''. The movie was the first feature film to depict a lesbian love story in ...

established the

Social and Public Art Resource Center The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC or SPARCinLA) is a non-profit community arts center based in Venice, California. SPARC hosts exhibitions, sponsors workshops and murals, and lobbies for the preservation of Los Angeles area mural ...

(SPARC). Judy Baca had noticed a lack of awareness toward women of color in her time in Venice, California and realized the difficulties as being a woman of color who is both a feminist and a Latina which prompted the creation of SPARC. It consisted of studio and workshop spaces for artists. SPARC functioned as an art gallery and also kept records of murals. SPARC was created to support youth in areas where gangs are prevalent, which is why community youth was involved in the making of ''The Great Wall of Los Angeles''.

The Great Wall of Los Angeles The ''Great Wall of Los Angeles'' is a mural designed by Judith Baca and executed with the help of over 400 community youth and artists coordinated by the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC). The mural, on the concrete sides of the Tujun ...

was the fist project made by SPARC showcasing topics of erasure of ethnic groups in California and homophobia. SPARC provides deeper context in the omission of underrepresented communities and elicits the exclusion that happens in U.S. history. SPARC is still active and encourages a space for chicana community collaboration in cultural and artistic campaigns.

Los Four

Gilbert Luján Gilbert "Magu" Luján (October 16, 1940 – July 24, 2011) was a well known and influential Chicano sculptor, muralist and painter. He founded the famous Chicano collective Los Four that consisted of artists Carlos Almaraz, Beto de la Rocha (Fat ...

, Carlos Almaráz , along with

Frank Romero Frank Edward Romero (born July 11, 1941) is an American artist considered to be a pioneer in the Chicano art movement. Romero's paintings and mural works explore Chicano and Los Angeles iconography, often featuring palm trees and bright colors. ...

and Robert de La Rocha, or " Beto de la Rocha" were the original members who came up with

Los Four Los Four (active from 1973–1983) was a Chicano artist collective active based in Los Angeles, California. The group was instrumental in bringing the Chicano art movement to the attention of the mainstream art world. Members The Chicano artist ...

as their group name as a way to demonstrate the duality of being chicano and their chicano culture. In the 1970's, Los Four became a part of the Chicano movement showcasing their murals with political themes tied to them. Muralist

Judithe Hernández Judithe Hernández (born 1948) is an American artist and educator, she is known as a muralist, pastel artist, and painter. She a pioneer of the Chicano art movement and a former member of the art collective Los Four. She is based in Los Angeles ...

joined the all-male art collective in 1974 as its fifth member.This was crucial at the time as they were trying to be inclusive and steer away gender roles they grew up knowing The group decided not to change the name of Los Four despite having five members because they had already gained popularity through the name Los Four. The collective was active in the 1970s through early 1980s.

Street art

Murals

Mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s were the preferred medium of street art used by Chicana artists during the

. Murals became largely popular during in the 1970s as they were intended to bring people together. Judy Baca was the first Chicana to create a mural, "Mi Abuelita", she led the large-scale project for SPARC, ''The Great Wall of Los Angeles. ''It took five summers to complete the 700 meter long mural. The mural was completed by Baca, Judithe Hernández, Olga Muñiz, Isabel Castro, Yreina Cervántez, and

Patssi Valdez Patssi Valdez (born 1951) is an American Chicana artist. She is a founding member of the art collective, Asco. Valdez's work represents some of the finest Chicana avant-garde expressionism which includes but not limited to painting, sculpture an ...

in addition to over 400 more artists and community youth. During the creation of ''The Great Wall of Los Angeles'' Baca started putting women in leadership roles and trying to get them to become involved in the making of the mural. Located in Tujunga Flood Control Channel in the

Valley Glen Valley Glen is a neighborhood in southeastern section of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. Once part of Van Nuys and North Hollywood, it became a separate neighborhood in 1998. Valley Glen is home to Los Angeles Valley College an ...

area of the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

, the mural depicts

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

’s erased history of marginalized people of color and minorities. In 1989, Yreina Cervántez along with assistants Claudia Escobedes, Erick Montenegro, Vladimir Morales, and Sonia Ramos began the mural ''La Ofrenda,'' located in downtown Los Angeles''.'' The mural, a tribute to Latina and Latino farm workers, features

Dolores Huerta Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizi ...

at the center with two women arched the history of Los Angeles and met with historians as she originally planned out the mural. The mural was halted after Carrasco refused alterations demanded from City Hall due to her depictions of formerly enslaved entrepreneur and philanthropist

Biddy Mason Biddy Mason (August 15, 1818 – January 15, 1891) was an African-American nurse and a Californian real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist. She was one of the founders of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, Calif ...

, the internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II, and the 1943

Zoot Suit Riots The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots that took place from June 3–8, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, involving American servicemen stationed in Southern California and young Latino and Mexican American city resident ...

Performance Art

Chicana entertainers have utilized the deconstructive qualities of

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

to challenge thought of character, identity, embodiment, and culture. Starting in the 1970s, Chicana artists began experimenting with street based performances that highlighted their unique role as cultural outsiders to white middle-class norms.

was a member of the performance group Asco from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. Asco's art spoke about the problems that arise from Chican@s unique experience residing at the intersection of racial, gender, and sexual oppression. Contemporary Chicana performance artists include

Xandra Ibarra Xandra Ibarra (born 1979), who has sometimes worked under the alias of La Chica Boom, is a performance artist, activist, and educator. Ibarra works across video, sculpture and performance. She is based in Oakland, California. About Born in 1979 ...

, Nao Bustamente, and Monica Palacios.

La Panza Monologues

''The Panza Monologues'' is a performance art piece built around the narratives of Chicana women. ''The Panza Monologues'' were composed by Virginia Grise and Irma Mayorga and presented as a solo performance by Grise herself. This performance art piece strikingly puts the ('belly') in the spotlight as an image that uncovers bits of their insight, viewpoints, lives, loves, misuses, and individual battles. The piece was intended to spotlight something that most times women are made to feel like should be hidden, making it seem shameful, and as a reminder that body images can greatly influence a woman's life.

is Chicana performance artist who coined the term ' as a way to describe her performances of Mexican iconography that reveal the ways they function as racist tropes within performance cultures.Ramos, Ivan. "Spic(y) Appropriation: The Gustatory Aesthetics of Xandra Ibarra (a.k.a. La Chica Boom)."''ARARA- Art and Architecture in the Americas,'' no. 12, 2016 pp.1-18. www.essex.ac.uk/arthistory/research/pdfs/arara-issue-12/2.%20Spic(y)%20Appropriations.Ivan%20Ramos.pp.1-18.pdf. Accessed February 5, 2017.

Photography

Laura Aguilar Laura Aguilar (October 26, 1959 – April 25, 2018) was an American photographer. She was born with auditory dyslexia and attributed her start in photography to her brother, who showed her how to develop in dark rooms. She was mostly self-taugh ...

, known for her "compassionate photography," which often involved using herself as the subject of her work but also individuals who lacked representation in the mainstream: Chicanas, the

LBGTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is an ...

community, and women of different body types. During the 1990s, Aguilar photographed the patrons of an

Eastside Los Angeles The Eastside is an urban region in Los Angeles County, California. It includes the Los Angeles City neighborhoods east of the Los Angeles River — that is, Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Los Angeles, El Sereno, and Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, Lin ...

lesbian bar. Aguilar utilized her body in the desert as the subject of her photographs wherein she manipulated it to look sculpted from the landscape. In 1990, Aguilar created ''Three Eagles Flying, a'' three-panel photograph featuring herself half nude in the center panel with the flag of Mexico and the United States of opposite sides as her body is tied up by the rope and her face covered. The triptych represents the imprisonment felt by the two cultures she belongs to. Laura Aguilar created a collection of work that accepts the human figure as its focal request. The best of her art is from her initial work, known as the ''Latina Lesbian Series'', which started in 1987. The series comprises highly contrasting pictures of ladies who identified as Latina and lesbian. Photographs in this series frequently went with the woman's signature as well. Delilah Montoya was likewise a powerful Chicana photographic artist. Montoya's assortment of work explores the amendment of female generalizations and symbols and utilizes visual and text-based accounts or narration of a hidden subject. In 2003 Montoya and Orlando Lara went across the Mexico-American border and took pictures of passageways used by immigrants crossing the border from Mexico into America.

Modern work

Though the Chicano movement has passed, Chicanas continue to use art as a way to uplift their perspectives and celebrate Chicana voices. Young Chicana artists like Diana Yesenia Alvarado, who works with sculpture, create art that represent their culture and get little recognition. New art forms have risen as technology has begun to play a more vital role in daily life as artists like Guadalupe Rosales use platforms like Instagram as a part of their work. Rosales uses her role as an artist and an archivist to artfully collect photos and magazines of Chicanas from the 1990s. She portrayed her own understanding of growing up Chicana in East Los Angeles, a predominantly Latino area. On her account Veteranas y Rucas, her photos depict men in baggy pants and women with teased hair making their way through a time of anti-immigrant sentiments and gang violence. What started as a way for Rosales' family to connect over their shared culture through posting images of Chican@s history and nostalgia soon grew to an archive dedicated to not only 1990s Chican@ youth culture but also as far back as the 1940s. Additionally, Rosales has created art installations to display the archive away from its original digital format and exhibited solo shows ''Echoes of a Collective Memory'' and ''Legends Never Die, A Collective Memory''. Rosales is the recipient of a 2019 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship. She was the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's first Instagram artist in residence in 2017. Others like poet Felicia "Fe" Montes have gained popularity for their work in Chicana art for still other forms. Montes uses spoken word and slam traditions among other mediums to relate with her Latina following about identity. She reads her poetry in unconventional places and questions women's historically subservient and lower-serving roles than men. As she writes, she keeps the Chicano culture in Los Angeles in mind, through women's collectives like Mujeres de Maiz.

Themes

La Virgen

Over the years, la Virgen de Guadalupe has been used by Chicana artists to explore themes of repression and feminine strength. She has become a symbol through which artists have attempted to eradicate the stigmas facing women's place in society and ownership of their bodies. Alma López, Margarita "Mita" Cuaron,

Yolanda López Yolanda Margarita López (November 1, 1942 – September 3, 2021) was an American painter, printmaker, educator, and film producer. She was known for her Chicana feminist works focusing on the experiences of Mexican-American women, often challeng ...

and

Ester Hernandez Ester Hernández (born 1944) is a California Bay Area Chicanx visual artist recognized for her prints and pastels focusing on farm worker rights, cultural, political, and Chicana feminist issues. Background Hernández is a Chicana of Yaqui ...

are four Chicana feminist artists who used reinterpretations of ''La Virgen de Guadalupe'' to empower Chicanas. ''La Virgen'' as a symbol of the challenges Chicanas face as a result of the unique oppression they experience religiously, culturally, and through their gender.

Alma López

Alma López focuses on eradicating the stigmas surrounding women. She painted "Our Lady" in 1999, which portrays a modern Virgen de Guadalupe unclothed, supported by an unclothed "angel" with the wings of a monarch. La Virgen wears nothing but flowers, but stands powerfully with her hands at her hips and her face expressing confidence and seriousness. She has reimagined the traditional icon to explore the shamelessness she believes should stem from a woman of today who does not conform to the expectation of society. Especially since La Virgen is typically clothed from head to toe, this piece of art challenges the themes the original pushes forward, including modesty and subservience. She expresses the need for ownership of the indigenous body.Surage, Chloe, "Art and La Virgin de Guadalupe: Towards Social Transformation" (2011). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 691. https://scholar.colorado.edu/honr_theses/691 Alma López also painted "Lupe and Sirena in Love" in 1999, which depicts the traditional Virgen de Guadalupe, nicknamed Lupe, lovingly embracing a mermaid. This is Alma López's commentary on Catholic Church teaching regarding sexuality and gender. She portrays a sacred individual romantically embracing another woman, directly challenging commonly followed beliefs that ostracize LGBTQ individuals. Alma López pushes the boundaries that confine the common woman, depicting La Virgen de Guadalupe in modern and controversial light as she paints. "Our Lady of Controversy: Alma Lopez's 'Irreverent Apparition'" (2011) demonstrates some of the angry responses she has received for her work. "Irreverent Apparition" is mixed media and is a sacrilegious depiction of ''La Virgen''.

Margarita "Mita" Cuaron

Margarita “Mita” Cuaron’s most famous pieces of

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...

are ''Virgen de la Sandía'' (1996) and ''Virgen de Guadalupe Baby'' (1992). ''Virgen de Guadalupe Baby'' (1992) depicts La Virgen de Guadalupe as a baby surrounded by the womb, which is shaped by white, fluffy clouds and is surrounded by La Virgen’s typical yellow, sunlight rays and dark green garments. Within the child's clasped hands is a light red heart. Portraying both ideas of birth and regrowth, Cuaron focuses on a theme of new possibilities and formations.Surage, Chloe. ''Art and La Virgen de Guadalupe: Towards Social Transformation''. University of Colorado Boulder, 2011
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/54845924.pdf.
/ref> Cuaron’s painting, ''Virgen de'' ''Guadalupe Baby'' (1992) was recreated again in 2004 through a different kind of artistic medium, as a screen print. “In ''Nacimiento'' (2004) Cuaron depicts her first and only child swaddled in the protection of La Virgen's green mantle. She identifies the birth of her child and entry into motherhood as one of the most important moments in her life, extending gratitude to not only her child but birthers of new life everywhere.” Similarly, this print has similar color and design features to her original piece, ''Virgen de Guadalupe Baby'' (1992). In Cuaron's screen print, ''Virgen de la Sandía'' (1996), La Virgen de Guadalupe is depicted as a nude woman standing on a crescent–shaped moon at the center of the art piece.Cuarón, Mita. ''Virgen de la Sandía''. 1996. Self-Help Graphics and Art Archives. https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb1290040c/

/ref> The disrobed religious figure is surrounded by a watermelon with red, orange, yellow, and white glow. Scholar, Teresa Eckmann's analysis of Cuaron's screen print, ''Virgen de la Sandía'' (1996), makes a reference to the “sexual metaphor of the sandia, or watermelon, as an image of women's genitalia.” Furthermore, this screen print was recreated in 1997, by using an alternative medium of watercolor paint. This new version of the piece, ''Virgen de la'' ''Sandía'' (1997) depicts La Virgen de Guadalupe fully clothed in a pink gown covered by her recognizable green mantle with golden sun rays. She is standing on a red crescent–shaped watermelon slice, instead of a crescent moon in the original piece of 1996.

Yolanda López

Like Alma Lopez, Yolanda Lopez, Yolanda López also focuses on themes of sexuality and the stigmas of women when she portrays La Virgen de Guadalupe. In her piece, "Love Goddess" from 1978, López merges the image of La Virgen with an image of Sandro Bottecelli's "The Birth of Venus" from the mid-1480s. She makes the commentary that Christian nature rejects the natural appearance of women's bodies by embracing the fact that at an even earlier age, the Greek mythology would embrace it without the shame and fear that has developed. López challenges the virginal image by eradicating the stigma and sin that are often associated; she infuses a sacred religious image with sexuality so as to celebrate it rather than be ashamed.

Ester Hernandez

Ester Hernández references the sacred Virgen de Guadalupe in her painting, ''La Ofrenda'' (1988).' The painting recognizes lesbian love and challenges the traditional role of ''.'' It defies the reverence and holiness of La Virgen by being depicted as a tattoo on a lesbian's back. She also painted (1975).

Collective memory/correcting history

The Pocho Research Society of Erased and Invisible History (PRS) was founded by Sandra de la Loza, the only known member in the organization, in 2001. The Pocho Research Society of Erased and Invisible History had a goal of uncovering hidden or otherwise distorted aspects of history in chicano history and celebrate the forgotten figures of the chicano movement. Utilizing the word pocho as a means to take back the term used by Mexican to demean Chicanos and Chicanas. Chicano artists have used their art to educationally reaffirm historical events in their communities that have been rewritten in time.

Notable Chicana Artists

* Alma López *

Amalia Mesa-Bains Amalia Mesa-Bains (born July 10, 1943),Telgen, page 272-273 is a Chicana curator, author, visual artist, and educator. She is best known for her large-scale installations that reference home altars and '' ofrendas''. Her work engages in a concept ...

Barbara Carrasco Barbara Carrasco (born 1955) is a Chicana artist and activist who lives and works in Los Angeles. She is considered to be a "radical feminist" whose work critiques dominant cultural stereotypes involving socioeconomics, race, gender and sexualit ...

Carmen Lomas Garza Carmen Lomas Garza (born 1948) is an Chicana artist and illustrator. She is well known for her paintings, ofrendas and for her papel picado work inspired by her Mexican-American heritage. Her work is a part of the permanent collections of the S ...

Celia Álvarez Muñoz Celia Álvarez Muñoz (born 1937) is a Chicana mixed-media conceptual artist and photographer based in Arlington, Texas. Early life and education Álvarez Muñoz was born in El Paso, Texas to Enriqueta Limón Alvarez and Francisco Pompa Alvare ...

* Celia Herrera Rodriguez * Consuelo Jimenez Underwood * Delilah Montoya *

Diane Gamboa Diane Gamboa (born 1957) has been producing, exhibiting and curating visual art in Southern California since the 1980s. She has also been involved art education, ranging from after-school programs to college and university teaching. Gamboa has bee ...

Isis Rodriguez Lilly Marie Rodriguez, known by her artist name Isis Rodríguez is an American contemporary painter who uses the cartoon as a conceptual tool to discuss issues that focuses on the empowerment and liberation of women. Combining classical realism w ...

Juana Alicia Juana Alicia (born 1953) is an American muralist, printmaker, educator, activist and, painter. She has been an educator for forty years. Juana Alicia, as part of the faculty Berkeley City College, founded and directed the True Colors Public Art ...

* Kathy Vargas *

* Laura E. Alvarez * Laura Molina (artist) * Margarita "Mita" Cuaron * Marta Sánchez (artist) *

Patricia Rodriguez (artist) Patricia Rodriguez (born 1944) is a prominent Chicana Chicana art, artist and educator. Rodriguez grew up in Marfa, Texas and moved to San Francisco to later pursue an art degree at Merritt College and this is where she learned about the Mexica ...

* Rita Gonzalez *

Santa Barraza Santa Barraza (born April 7, 1951) is an American mixed-media artist and painter who is well known for her colorful, retablo style painting. A Chicana, Barraza pulls inspiration from her own mestiza ancestry and from pre-Columbian art. Barraza ...

* Santa Contreras Barraza *

Yreina Cervantez Yreina Cervantez (born 1952) is an American artist and Chicana feminism, Chicana activist who is known for her multimedia painting, murals, and printmaking. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is in the permanent collec ...

Chicana artist groups

Mujeres Muralistas Las Mujeres Muralistas ("The Muralist Women") were an all-female Latina artist collective based in the Mission District in San Francisco in the 1970s. They created a number of public murals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and are said to hav ...

References

{{Reflist Chicana feminism Mexican-American culture *