User:MarlynZuno/Chicano art movement

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Many Chicana artists looked to La Virgen de Guadalupe as a dominant icon and sought to redefine her meaning. Scholars point to how ubiquitous the Virgin Mary is in Mexican households as a cultural icon and symbol of femininity. Redefining her image was controversial because the religious and art world took offense to the revisions Chicana artist took on La Virgen de Guadalupe.

For example, Chicana artist Yolanda Lopez remodels the portrait of the Virgin of Guadalupe into images of working women. Yolanda transforms the Virgen Mary from a deity into a laborious-driven immigrant mother that provides for their family. Specifically in Yolanda Lopez’s artwork: “Mother: Our Lady of Guadalupe,” she portrays a wage-earning woman sewing the holy veil. Yolanda Lopez embodied La Virgen de Guadalupe as a brown working woman that brought controversy to her paintings.

Alma Lopez’s paintings ensued controversy due to the representation of queer sexuality contesting La Virgen de Guadalupe religious meaning. In another example, Alma Lopez, a queer Chicana artist, uses La Virgen de Guadalupe to create a series of depictions of La Virgen de Guadalupe as a sexual image in contrast to virginal purity. In Alma Lopez’s artwork “Encuentro” queerness is depicted by showing La Virgen and La Sirena in love, evoking acceptance of non-heterosexual orientation, contrary to her heterosexual symbol of innocence.

Furthermore, Chicana Artist Ester Hernandez utilizes the image of La Virgen as a political symbol fighting for the rights of Chicano/as. Hernández in “La Virgen de Guadalupe Defendiendo Los Derechos de los Xicanos” dresses La Virgen de Guadalupe in a karate Gi and poses her in an impassioned kicking stance. Through this, Hernandez juxtaposes the meaning of La Virgen as a calm nonviolent peace symbol into an image that evokes force and strength.