Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art by Inés Hernández-Ávila

Author:Inés Hernández-Ávila [Hernández-Ávila, Inés]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781477308370
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2015-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

III

Arte y semblanza

TEJANA ARTIVISTS

Norma Elia Cantú

A quick repaso of the published work on Latina artists yields little scholarly work on the artwork by Latinas or Chicanas in the United States. The dearth of serious study of Tejana artists is not surprising, as art by Chicanas in general has not been widely studied and what little exists is often inaccessible—hidden away in interviews, theses and dissertations, and exhibition catalogues. A Ver: Revisioning Art History, a book series published by the University of California at Los Angeles, includes two excellent books on Tejanas: Constance Cortez’s Carmen Lomas Garza (2010) and Roberto Tejada’s Celia Alvarez Muñoz (2009). In addition, the book Santa Barraza: Artist of the Borderlands, edited by María Herrera-Sobek, is an outstanding tribute to the work of one of the major Tejana artists of all time, providing as it does a wonderful representation of her work, as well as an autobiographical essay. We cannot pretend to correct this state of affairs with this very brief and limited section of Entre Guadalupe y Malinche. Our goal is to show how varied and diverse Tejana artistic production is, how compelling and relevant. The work included here is representative of how artivists (artists who use their art as activism) see the world, how they communicate their vision. We include earlier and more established artists as well as younger, up-and-coming artists.

The artists in this section come from various places in Texas: from the border, the coast, the urban centers. Many, such as Carmen Lomas Garza and Nora Chapa Mendoza, reside outside the state in the Tejana diaspora; some have lived away and returned, such as Santa Barraza. All identify as Tejanas, and their work reflects a tejanidad that is rooted in their diverse and complex life experiences. They have been influenced by their life experiences and often reflect indigenous themes alongside personal reflection and life history. They render these in contemporary and fresh fashion. In this brief ekphrastic essay, we offer a response de corazón to the pieces in this section, organized alphabetically by artist.

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