User:Kareenuh/Chicana art

'''Chicana art emerged as part of the Chicano Movement in the 1960s. It used art to express political and social resistance through different art mediums. Chicana artists explore and interrogate traditional Mexican-American 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.

Social Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)[edit]
In 1976, co-founders Judy Baca (the only Chicana), Christina Schlesinger, and Donna Deitch established the Social and Public Art Resource Center (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 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[edit]
'''Gilbert Luján, Carlos Almaráz, along with Frank Romero and Robert de La Rocha, or "Beto de la Rocha" were the original members who came up with Los Four as their group name as a way to demonstrate the duality of being chicano and 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 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 both politically and artistically.

Photography

'''Delilah Montoya, a Chicana photographic artist, has an assortment of work that explores her interpretation of being a woman and understanding the world she had been placed in by incorporating the idea of mestizo, the combining of cultures. Montoya became politicized after her residency in South Omaha after the exposure of a multitudinous amount of cultures. Montoya made pieces deliberately to highlight the presence of absent often inspired through the early years of the Chicano Movement. Further influences of the Civil Rights Movement allowed her to implore the idea of the reinvention of the self in terms of culture and history that encapsulates you.'''

Collective memory/correcting history[edit]
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.'''

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