, rot' 710 'Sf? c rWr _.

- 7

APTER

Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore's Mask:

The Mirror of Marinchismo

Gender Politics

"If Chicano an hu been considered a long neglected entity

wilhin the reaJm of 'An History.' cenainly the anemion
given to thewomcn artists ofIa R.iu isalong time coming."
wrote Sybil Venegas in the speciaJ icl mllju issue of Chismiurtt:
in 1977.' Thirteen years Luer, did the CARA exhibition give
Chicana artists the aUention they deserve? According to sev-
eral reviewers. it did: "Chicana artists are well represented
throughout the exhibition." said Eva Sperling Cockcroft in
Art in America. ~ "The real. triumph of the disenfranchised in
the exhibit:' said Michael Ennis in Texas Monthly. " ... is
the emergence from obscurity of Chicana artists." J Indeed,
one of the exhibition gUidelines set forth by the CARA Na-
tional Advisory Committee at its first planning meeting in
19 86 was that "there must be an awareness of the gender
issues in all aspects of the exhibition, in both process and
product.···
A b.Isic quantitative analysis of the show. however, re-
veaJs that approximately a hundred more Chic~o artists
than Chicanas were represented. If we examine Ihe len sec.
tions of the exhibit according to the number of works de.
 Table I. Quantitative Analysis of the
CARA Exhibilion by Gender

Number of

INIST
e ~"tion

La Causa
Cllhurallcons
Works

14
4
M.i.le/Fem.i.le
3/1
IlII
VISIONS
. _-_
____....__....... . .-._---v.... . ._...
Civil liberties
-_-...._ ---- Urban IllIages
10
27
9/1
26/1

-------
-_..-.
------
-_=--....,.-_.-
_.--" --_
..... -_ __ - ._
-
--
...
... I'
Murilols (slide show)-
GtUpo installations-
Regional Expressions
54
3
34
47/7
3/0
24/10

. ... ...
-_
--_ _----
..-...
;:;...-_
.
.. -_
, -_.
__ ----
~"'
'
Reclaiming the Past
f'el11iniM Visions
Rl,.'<Iclining American An
10
14
14
7/3
0/101-
8/6

--
:=,::::=:,::'::'~':..":'.
Figure 41. Insu.lb.tion shot. Entr;lntt to "Feminist Visions" room. CARA: (mono
A.n: Resi$l~ncc: =d Affirmltion. exhibition hdd 01.1 UCLA's Wight Art Gillc:ry,
September 9-Decembcr 9. 1990. Photogr,lph provided courlC:;y of lhc: Wight
Art Gallery.
piClcd and the number of male utists ,1nd fcm.uc utislS represented in
uch section we find a gluing ineqUol.lity. Of the fourteen pieces in the:
"Cultural Icons" room, one was d.one by il womAn; of the ten in "Civil
Uberties," again onc by a woman: of the twenty-seven in "Urban Im·
ages," yOll guessed correctly, onc by a woman. Of the firty~four munl
imOlgcs projected, only seven were done exclusively by women or worn·
en's collectives. Of the three grupos selected for sped.! recognition within
the Chicano Art Movement, not one of them had women's concerns ilnd
particular oppressions primary to their agendas. In fact, the inequity re-
vealed by this quantitative analysis is qualitalively reinforced when we
juxtapose, later in this chapter, what I eall the three "men's rooms" or
grupo instillations in the show with the "Feminist Visions" room or w.e.
(for Women's Closet).
Although Chicana artist collectives like las Mujeres Muralistas from Siln
Francisco exist in the hislOry of the Chicano Arl Movement. the CAR."
organizers chose to highlight only ASCO, the Royal dlkano Air Force.
• ~~I of III\" nUlnas "'b.pl~)'fti in 'I.... dMk dl(M' wu" dooM: by culkdl'"1$
wi ....... n"""u.,,~ i"d".kd both " ...." ~nd women: Ih" ~V\'" ",ur~lsdo..." udu-
.iV<:ly ~y women ..... wom",,·. 0011«1;...". ~CC()Ul1l f<.>r 1\CVen oflh" tiny-four
nlur~llnug<:J shown in the slid"•. SimUuly. Ih" &r~po Ill'I~lIatio".lin" doe. nOl
rnNI Ihe nU"llIer of m"u ~I\d WOmCn !inc" ~lIlhr"" of Ih" ,ru"", I....d al l"olSl
cuc fer\l~I~ "'"mber: r~UI"r, !he number refn'll to Ulr number of 'I'\IJl'II pre-
l"mtd md lho: dom~tllend"r of nch ........
ind Los Four.' Las Mnjcres Muralistas originally consisted of three Chica-
na.s, Patricia. Rodriguez. Graciela Carrillo, and Irene Perez, and a Vcnezue-
lin, Consuela Mendez. Others joined the group later, among them Ester
Hernindez. At the time that Venegas's Mliclc w-.s published in Ch..ismt4ne
in 1977, Mujeres had done eleven murals, neMly all of them in the Mis.
sian District in San Francisco.'
According to Yolanda M. lOpez, one of tile foremothers ofChicana Mt 1
MUjeres was an extremely important group for the empowerment ofCh;-
CinilS in el Movimiento, for they challenged the sexist and stereotypical
notions within the Chicano Art Movement that women were physically
not able and politically not "mcant"to create murals. to build and climb
Kiffolding. to be on public display and withstand the comments of pas.
sersby.· Precisely to mitigate these limiting, sexist assumptions, Judith
B.l.Ci produced Woman~ MQllUllI: How 10 Asscnblc ScaffoL!ing, which, Shifn. Gold-
~liln I~ us, "was intended to help remedy women's socialiution," by
Instructmg women artists on the logistics of "working outdoors on a
large scale ... and knOWing how to handle tools and successfully COil.
mutt such large objccts as olle- or two-story scaffolds.'"

CARA~ PoIiliG of Rtpfl'SmIOIUl OuloftlxHowe

 In "Quest for Idenlity: Profile of Two Chiana Muralists," Amalia
Mesa-Bains describes the revisionary narrative and imp<la oflas Mujeres
Muralistas:

The images of their murals ... expressed a p.tn·American aesthetic

where highly visible images of women and emphasis on ceremony,
celebration, caretaking, harvest and a continental terrain worked to-
ward the creation of a new mythology. The power of the murals
reUed on precisely that widely held memory of the everyday which
allowed the work of Mujercs Muralistas to provide a recollective
10
function for a broad community during a historic period of time.

The question is not so much why an important group such as las MUjeres
Muralistas was not itself recollected by the organizers of tbe first major
national exhibition of Chicano/a art or given the same special recognition
within CARA as the other grupos, but, rather, what this exclusion says about
the sexual politiCS of the Chicano Art Movement, which was then replayed
by the CARA exhibit.
In a patriarchy, says Kale Millett, sexual polities denotes a relationship
between those in power (men) and their subordinates (women). II Explor- Figure +2. US Mujeres Mur.lims (P.trici. Rodriguez, Gn.deb e.trillo, Consu~lo
ing and exploding this differential has been the modus operandi of Anglo/ Mendez. md lren~ N:rez).laliooami:rica. 197+. mur.I. Mission District. San Frmci5co,
European feminist theory; however, is that the only theory, or vision, of C1liforni. (not exumt)_ Photoguph provided OOllrtesy of the Soci.J..I md Public Art
the "Feminist Visions" section in CARM Is gender the only PMameter for Resource Center (SPARe). Reproduced by permission of ~ne Perez.
discussing a feminist identity politiCS? Ana Nieto GOmez, Martha Coten,
Francisca Flores, Elena Flores, and all of the other early fcministas of th~ After thirty years of conIDa, contradiction. and hard work, feminists
Chicano Movement as well as their Chic.ma/Latina hcrmanas in the 19 8010 have devised several fcminisms: some. like Ubenl feminism. Marxist femi-
and 1990S would say absolutely not: to privilege gender over class md nism, and radical feminism, grew out of the predominmtly Anglo/Euro-
Idce is to perpetuate racism and ruling class values. To ignore gender, pean and middle-cIass "women's liberation" movement of the late sixties.
however, in the struggle for civil and human rights is to perpetuate th~ Collectively labeled "white" feminism-in both its Uberal and radical
objectification and abuse ofwomcn. Wings-this school has been traditionally concerned with gender differ-
Let me pause here to clarify the distinction between identity politio ~nce, poSiting woman's subjectivity primarily in relation and opposition

and politic; of identity, since these are two popular terms in feminist dis·
course whose meaning, though similar, should not be collapsed into one
definition. A politics of identity (also known as POlilics of location) is the
individual process or motivation by which a woman constructs her 0 ....11
definition of her identity, based on identifying with and differing from
social/racial/sexual constructions of her gender. Identity polities, on tht
other hand. is a kind of party·line, a philosophy of race/cIass/gendn
differences that constitutes a particular group's sense of community;wd
public action.
to men or patriarchal institutions. What has now come to be known as
Third World feminism arose from Third World women's critiques of the
clm- ilnd color-blindness of "women's lib." Third World feminists ac-
cuse white feminists of gender-bias and inherent racism and insist that
colonialism and slavery be used as frameworks to examine gender and
power relations. Lesbian feminism and separatist feminism blossomed
from heated deb.ates between straight .and queer women about sexuality
u another determining factor in a woman's politics of identity. Chicana
frotinism is Third World-identified in its concerns over class and color as

CARA~ Politics oIlttpfesenlatioa

key nodes of subjectivity and oppression, but it also occurs in the context
of entrenched utholicism, a colonized history, and a First World econ-
omy; and so issues oflanguage and culture, ofnOllionality alldcitizenship,
of autonomy and choice, all play significant roles in Chinna identity. In
the realm of sexuality (including the politics of reproduclive rights, en-
forced sterilization, and sexual orientation) Chicana feminists we a share
of what Norma Alarcon ca.lls "the gender standpoint epistemology."u
Chicana lesbian feminists, whose theoretical wrilings have most impacted
the field of Chicana/o Studies, exhort us to push the gender question
further and analyze the dissonance between ethnic and sexual identity.
What began as a discourse about gender difference has evolved in three
decades into a plurality of identity politics and multiple strategies ofpe-
!itical action that address the needs and interests of more lhan just white
women and help us to discern and counteract the essentialism, gender
oppression, monoliLhic stereotyping, and heterosexual priVilege that still
emerge as bylaws in the land of the almighty 'Apei (Father).
dearly, then, we cannot rely on just one school of feminism for our
analysis of the gender politics in the CARA exhibit. WC must use the tri-
faccted mirror of Anglo/European, Third World, and Chicana feminisms
to help us dcconstmct thc overt and obliquc gender messages in the
Women's Closet. Furthermore, through a strategy of appropriation and
subversion, this inlersection of the three identity politics can help us vi-
sualize a new theory of resistance lO all of the inequities named. .bove. U
Like the work-dazed charaClers lhat populated Animal Farm, Chiam.
feminists learned as early as the seventies th.J.t something was wrong with
the revolution. The workers in George Orwell's bleak fable are the .mimals
who till the fic.lds and produce the meat and poultry of the farm. Thesttte
is represented by the farmer and the other humans in the story. Subsist-
ing on meager portions of food, working outrageous hours, and living in
crowded And filthy conditions, the animals revolt against the farmer and
successfully manage to wrest control of their lives away from human
hands. The human hand, in fact, like walking on tWO legs, is vilified as
the cause of the animals' misery; upon winning the battle, they immedi·
ately decide that no animal will cver adopt human ways. Freed from the
fanuer's domination, lhe animals establish their own government and
seize the means of production. Following the ideals of a socialist order,
each animal contributes its unique talents to the operating of Animi!
Farm, and tlley all share equally in the fruits of lheir labor (or so thtr
think). Gradually, howevcr, the greediness of the pigs becomes appareDt
They work less than the other animals, the pigs ntionalize, because thtr
think more, and because they Lhink morc, they get to govern the farm,
and because they have to govern, they need to consume more food. Even-
tually, the lofty goals of the revolution are undermined., as the pigs be+
come more a..nd more human in their behavior Olnd morality. In a shocking
tina.! scene the Animals realize lhat greed and capitalism are once .gili1 in
control of Animal Farm, and the newest rule for everyone to memorize is
that "some animals are more equal than others,"
The cryptic irony of this message is particularly useful in understanding
discrepancies between feminist and Chicano identity politics. Although
the nationalist menlality upon which much of the politics of el Movi-
miento was founded continues to believe that the label "Chicana femi-
nist" is a contradiction in terms, it is perfectly posSible for a woman to
subscribe to lhe identity politics of Chicanismo and at the same time
adopt a feminist politics of identity. In the Chicano Art Movement, for
example, Chicana artists like Judith F. Baca and Yolanda M. L6pez upheld
the Marxisl ideologies of el Movimiento that focused on class and worker
solidarity as central Lo liberation and defended the indigmista and mestizo
values ofChicanismo which proudly affirmed a racially inscribed identity
of resistance; they were also deeply concerned with gender inequalities
and issues of autonomy and sexual and vocational self-fulfillment.
The fact that tllere were more pieces by male artists than by mujtrcs in
the CARA exhibition is consistent, no doubt, with the fact that, in the
urly years of el Movimiento, more men were plying their artistic Voc.l-
lion than women. But if art-making was considered a legitimate and pow_
trful form of activism during the Movement, weren't Chicanas involved
in the dual process of resistance and affirmation through art? Or were
lheir contributions being undermined, ignored, or coopted by the machos
who had appointed themselves the leaders of la Causa Chicana? Were
women and men resisting and affirming the same oppressions? Yes and
no. Indeed, Chicana artists, like their male counterparts, were resisting
class and race oppression and affirming their differences as colonized sub·
ietts with their own cultural, historic,d, and linguistic identity. But some
of the Chicanas were also resisting another form of oppression, internal
10 lhe Movement, and for this resistance they were labeled by the patri-
archs and their female allies trailors lO the Chicano Movement.
In "The Role of the Chicana within the Student Movement," Sonia
LOpez lells us that, though Chicanas were active from the inception of the
Movement, they were generally relegated. to traditional roles played by
.....omen in society. It was the realiution of this oppresSive situation and
thtir secondary status within the Movement which led. many Chinnas to
Qui oil/It How
initiate a process by which they could begin to resolve the inconsistencies
between male/female roles.'~
What these women were seeing, to modify Orwell's warning, was that
"some members of the Movement were more equal than others," and
the process they were iniliating for their liberation (even though some
resisted the word) was feminism.
AdeUtas and Malinches
Thirty years after the initial struggles of eI Movimiento, md nearly at the
cusp of the twenty·first century, what have Chicmos in general done to
ameliorate the fact that "some members of the Movement are morc equal
than others?" What stralcgies have been devised within me tenets of Chi-
canismo to redress the vicious cycle of men's internalized opprcssion~
Armmdo Rendon, author ofCbiomo Manifesto, acknowledges the following:
"The Chiano macho has to concede that he has usually relegated la mujer
to the kitchen or to having kids md has never allowed her to express
herself. Perhaps it is true, as some Chic:.mas say, th;l,t the Chiano passes
on to bis womm the frusmuons and mierda (shit) t1u,t befall him dur-
ing the d;l,y" (emphasis added).ll Indeed, in the early chauvinist yeus of
..cl" MovimienlO, Chicanas were grmted one oftwo p;l,triarchally defined
identities. They were either "Adelitas:' depicted in the popular Mexian
revolutionary song as loyal supporters and followers of their men (~
we sec in Figure 18), or "Malinches," Eve-like mitors ofla Causa, per-
niciously pursuing their own individual interests. 16 Both terms derived
from male interpretations of history ;l,nd served male fmtasies of women.
Though historically both Malinches ~nd Adelitas are constructed as "loose
women," women who have stepped outside the boundaries of their gen·
der 10 dictate their own sexual destiny, what we see in the Malinche/
Adelita dichotomy is the difference, respectively, between the bad whore,
who sells her body to outsiders, and lhe good whore, who offers her body
for the sake of In Causa.
Rendon tells us Ul;l,t Chicano identity was "symbolized by cries ofVin
la raza! Viva la causa! And by the concepts of Chicanismo, el Quinto Sol,
and by the psychological as well as the seminal birthplace of Aztlan." '7 It
was up to "Ia mujer" to perpetuate the cause and the race by populating
Aztlan with little Emilianos and Panchos, Adclitas and Valentinas. There
was no room in that scheme for feminists, lesbians. or queers. Anyont:
who had an agenda beyond race and class could not be a "real" Chicano,
for. as Rendon e.xplains, "The essence of cultural nationalism is the fuD
CARA~ Po/ilia 01 Rrprcsmt4tion
a.cceptance of this fact, that we are oppressed because of the color of our
skin and because of tIle nature of our being, and that as ;l, consequence,
ineVitably, our sale means of preservation ,lDd equality before all men is
in that color and in tIlat rau." ,.
Rendon encouraged Chicanos to "allow" their daughters and sisters to
go to college and thereby halt the disturbing trend among those "hijos de.
Cuauhtemoc" who were marrying Anglo women Ihey met at school. "Be-
C;l,USC [Chicanas] lack the opportunity of othe.r women who lake higher
t:ducation for granted:' Rendon's argument ran, "they are. excluded from
the best setting for catching a promising young Chicano." I' Getting a JIlQ_
clio, then, rather than getting an education, was the primary reason 10 en-
counge Chicanas to go to college.
ChicanilS, "real" Chicanas, only lived for two things: for tIieir men
and families and for the struggle. The few im.ages of women that we see
in Luis Valdez's documentary depietion of Corky Gonulcs's I Am Joaquin,
for example., show us either bullet-decked sokladeras or bereaved, rebozo-
wr.Jppcd mothers. In a San Antonio alternative newspaper called EI Rdloro,
t:dited by two ChicanilS, we find the follOWing explanation for the paper's
title: "The traditional garment of the Mexican woman symbolizes the
three roles of the Chicana ... ');1, senoritOi: feminine, yet hwnble ... 'Ia
revolucionaria: ready to fight for 101 causa ... '101 madre: rOidimt with
life." 10 StiJI distributed in San Antonio, EI Rtbozo has been ;l, part ofTejma/o
populu culture nearly as long as I Am Jooquin has been considered the
quintessential Chicano poem, c1euly demonstrating that the cycle of
women's internalized oppression persists, for patriarchy functions in in-
sidious ways; despite a quarter-century of struggle for liberation, El Rebo-
l"'5 audience, many of them young Chicanas, still believe Oind espouse the
ideology of their own subjugation. Humble virgins, radiant mothers, or
ferociously devoted revolutionaries-these (and the ever-present "loose
woman") are the same roles that women of la Raza have been asSigned
since they heard the first Brito of Chicano Power.
Like their Mexican counterparts, Chicano men assign three attributes
to the feminine gender: motherhood, Virginity, and prostitution. Dur-
ing tJle Chicano Civil Rights Movement, mujms were valued, mainly, for
their biological contributions to the struggle: they could provide nourish-
ment, comfort, and sexual release for the men and future revolutionaries
l.'ld workers for la Causa. Mujcres were seen, in fact, as the carriers of the
culture, and their own revolutionary role was circumscribed by their pro-
outive function.
To be an "Adelita" (or a Loyalist, as was the popular term) a Chicana
Out of tilt House
could not .ldopt feminism .lS a strategy for liberation. Ana Nieto Gomez,
one of our early {aninistllS, was told by the male leadership of the Move-
ment thM Chic.lnas like her were "anti-f;uuily. anti-cultural. anti-man,
.lnd therefore anti-Chicano." II Faninislas, it was believed by the macho lead-
ership of the Chicano Movement .lnd their female advoc;r,tes. were white
middle-class "wannabes," men-haters, lesbians, and ducats to the beliefs
and values of III ramilia. ChiQnas who adopted feminist ideologies. who
fought against gender oppression within el Movimiento as well as class
and race oppression against the dominant culture. were considered "Ma-
lindtes.,. untrustworthy ·'vendidas.,. politically if not sexuilly selling their
bodies .lnd souls to the white oppressors. thereby destroying the most ba-
sic bonds of Chianismo: the patria.rc.hal bonds of III rQffiilili .lnd Cdmalrsmo.
In f.lct, the (cminislllS were not betraying anything except the gender .lnd
sexual inequities that prevailed in the Chicano Movement; in other words.
to return to Animal farm for a moment. they were denouncing the greedi-
ness of the pigs. The problem. as Emma Perez succinctly puts it, is that
"before the revolution, political Marxist men refuse to give up their powtr.
during the revolution. men refuse to give up their powa. after the revolu-
tion, men refuse to give up their powtr.... Social, political, economic .ud
yes. sexu.ll power." n
As evidenced by a recent publication that charLS the evolution of Chi-
an.l/o Studies since 1968, Chianos continue to be thI'C.ltened by the
activism .nd scholarship of Chia..na feminists, p.lfticulnly Chiana les·
bi.ln feminists. Calling us "advCTSMial" to lhe true goa.ls ofChicanismo
and" gender nationalists" who not only attack but also debunk the hard
work of our male colle.lgues, engaging in confront.ltion uthcr than .lc·
commodation, the .luthor argues th~t we are "moving ;r,w.lY from [re.d:
belr.lying] the community" with our alienating gender politics. He ex-
plains in a fooulote that Chicana feminists h.lve redefined the tuditional
notion of "community" and reduced it to signify "single females, or
single-pueilt families led by females, who are poor a.nd abused. There is
very Itttle vibrancy in th.l! community beyond the mothcr-d.lughtcr rela-
tionship." 1J It is a testament to the insular legacy of patriarchy that, at the
cusp ofthc twenty-first century, we still find Chicano .lc.ldemics who can-
not see beyond their onc*dimensional definition of what constitutes Chi·
cano community and whose myopic nostalgia for the dualisms ofa soci.u
scientific methodology persists in construing women's identity in stricti)'
relational terms: as "single females" (Le.. unma.rried, divorced. wid-
owcd) and.ls mothers or daughters. Thosc single-female, mOlher/daugh-
ter studies, especially those that condemn male abuse of power, by lhe
..
CAIlA\ Politics of Rtprdal[olion
way, lack sociological resonance with the "real" Chic.lno community. The
.luthor locales four institutions in California .lS "recent hotbeds of femi-
nist discourse,"H actively engaged in "diViding" the discipline of Chi-
cana/o Studies. On Chicano Fum, it seems. the females ue nat supposed
to be queer or autonomous subjects; thelr jab is to lay .lnd brood and nest
while the cocks and the pigs work Out the revolution.
A gendered analysis of the solar of Chica.no;'" populu culture shows
lh.lt, .lSide from resislance, afJirm.ltion, rmslimjt, self-determination, and
the myth of Aztl.in, two other decp~se.lted beliefs th.lt have buttressed
Chia.nismo, sexism and iLS first cousin hetef056.ism, are.llso amply por-
trayed in the CARA exhibit.
Back to the W.e.
"Feminist Visions" COntains fourteen pieces, .11 done by women, of
course, implicitly sUting that in the Chicano Art Movement only los mujcn:s
were concerned with achieVing a feminist consciousness. Moreover, its
placement as the second to the last room in the exhibit, S.lndwiched be-
tween the traditional history of "Rccl.liming the Pas!" and the indiVidu_
alized future of "Redefining America.n Art," h.ls the effect not only of
gheuoizing the work ofYolmda M. LOpez, Ester Herni.ndcz,lS.l.bel Ustro,
Barba..... Carrasco, 1uma Alicia, Celia Munoz, .lnd Celia Rodriguez,lI but
also of perpetuating the Oueano n.ltionalist mesS.lge th;r,t women .lre the
CUltural md biological links between yesterday and tomorrow, between
tradition and change. This mesS.lge is reinforced by lhe reproductive im-
agery that predominalcs in the section. There are, for cx.lmple. three .1-
lusions to babies: Celia Rodriguez's shadowy L1oronll portrays a c1oa.ked
figure with Outstretched claws drifting aver a white bundle in • cradle;
Juana Alicia's XodtiquelZlll depicts a pregnant wom.ln on • hospital gurney,
her fetus visible through her translucent belly, about to be opented on
by death-masked doclors but protected by the AZlec goddess of love and
procreation.
Ba.rbar.l Carrasco's Pregnalll Woman in a Ball of Yarn shows. naked woman
bound and gagged by the yarn of mOlherhood; as the artist hcrself de-
scribed it; "[the lithognphJ portrays .11 oppressed pregnant woman
trapped by the fear of fighting her oppressors." l6 Isabel Castro's photo-
graphs depict "Chica.nas who have had to survive f.lmili.ll .llld soci.ll re-
pression, including forced sterilization," 11 yct another, if negative, refer-
(nce to reproduction.
The pages of Celia Munoz's mixed-media book Which ClImc First? En/ighl-
Qui ofw HOlI:lC'
 Figure 43. Figure
B.lrooj u- "bd ,
rnsco, 'lIf- lro, W(
IIIlIlI WOf\'IIl.IIiD Wllb Fil
G Ball of YlUII, 1979, ,
l'n 8,litho- Xerox.
gnph. lectioll
Reproduced Robert
by permis- Rcms.
sion of the Rcprodl
artist. by pem
SiOIlOfl

I
<IInisl.

"F"19ure 4 ,) associjte the leuning

, (visible in the inst~.llation shot In . . "Feminist Visions" is supposed to display Chicma feminist reinscrip-
mmcn d question by conlugatmg
of English with the proverbial Chick: ::itt:~lgin what looks like a child's
tions of female iconography as well as feminist critiques of social issues
herb "to lay" in five sentences, ea . . jfTcetillg Chicanos/as. Although indiVidually each piece questions and
t edv hool tablet While the sentences change, the recurring Imag~ m challenges traditional roles, models, and behaviors ascribed to Chicanas
gra e s c · d' a row above each pams·
the serics is a p j lotograp I1 Offiveeggsarrange. 1Il f II of those in Chicano patriarchy, the artwork ends up being grouped togcther and
' bl" . II and 1I1 lhe context a it used by the curatorial agenda to serve and reproduce lhe sexist ideology
lakingly written sentcnce. Su Ihffi<jnoodit y, tl c piecc which is primarily ..
f a n c y and mot erl ,1 , of eJ Movimiento. Thus, lhe viewer's imertextu.l! associations are limited
ima,gcs 0 pregn . I s stem that crams English down our throats, to a singular discourse,
critique of the educallona y fi 5t loses some
h' h f our mother tongues came r , It cm be argued, of course, that the motifs and im.lges ofthese fourteen
forcing us to forget w IC 0 bee me a visual refrain for the
of its revisionary narrative and the eggs 0 pieces til into the tr.ldition in feminist an md literature of celebrating the
reproductive message. body rod using the body as text md metaphor for lived experience. In-

CARA~ Politics of IltpramtGlioa nu' '" ,"" "_.

deed, one of the first goals of the feminist ut movement of the 1970S working cl.., . 'h'IS Chicmoll olI.csrhetic could . I'
was, in the words of}udy Chicago. "to tu.nsfonn our circumstances into v;r:o f th .. • ill I act, be the p_Jonu'
..... no e Feminist Visio .. lOj nant
our subjcci matter, , . to use Ihem to reveal the whole nalure of the hu~ ns room .lind not nee iJ fl
scntialist discourse of thc Sci' . eSS.1.r y re CCI the es-
man conclition,"II This focus on "circumstantial idcntity" led feminist
. CCIIon Committee 0
mg, however the an of 'h' . pen as I am to that read_
, IS room cannot be Ie
anists to the work of dccolonizing the female body by transforming it indeed. Chicana ar(im wC'C d . ta en Out of COntcxt. If,
...., • a opung 011 pol" . I ..
imo an active speolking subjcct uther than 01 passive object of display and cifially to problcmatize ,I, I I Ulca essentialism meollnt spe_
c cu tura essential' f Chi .
male gratifiation. lJ In this p.o1rticulu vein, the circumstolnces of women's GaYUri Spivak would call "~, , . . . IS~I 0 Collllsmo, H what
.. r. eglc esscnliall[ZlIl J .. JJ d
Iivcs included the life-affirming aspects of sexuality-menstruation, or- .gcs of and by women in the show de 10 g , 0 the othtt im·
golsm. self-love, birth-as well as the difficult issue of abortion olnd the tnce the crumbs of 011 sexi t di p y the SolI.me strategy, or cm we
inhuffiolnity of rape olnd battery. Thus. images ofwomen's bodies, p.o1rticu- s SCOUl'SC underlying the exh..ib' .
To answcc this question we must $tc oucs'd . Ulon?
larly the genitals, became prolific expressions of feminist ideology, Preg- and cxamine OtllCt rOOms i 1 tl 'h p i e ofthe W,e. for a moment
I Ie s ow. Let us walk fi '
nant bellies, breasts, vaginas. menstrual blood, orifices, apenures, and ncr to look at Cesar Martinez's La Fulana/Th ' rs.t, around the cor-
lush images of nature were seen as manifestations of the creative essence of CARA and then back. to 011 I' e Other Woman In the final Section
ofwomens lives, If biology is dcstiny, as Freud would have it, then the n car ICC rOOm to anal th.
to portray women in the 1. __ • • yze e Images chosen
UolfrJO.
mCSQge of the first wave of feminist art wu that the way women were 10
I.o Fulana. along with]ohn Valadez's TbcWtrld' .
control their destiny md thereby olchieve autonomy and independence in in Chapter I) and the mother and ch'ld ms (see Figure Jo, discussed
the art world wu 10 proudly claim md dispby their biology and so defy us CQmas plrll Sudios and Vir d los I ren scenes of Carmen Lomas Gar-
the misogynislic mores of patriarchy that label women's issues as taboo Chicanas that the viewer S....r gmbcc' I I.o~ <Ire among the last images of
or unwonhy of "fine art." '"'-> lore eavmg the exh'b' I V-' •
womanhood is d . d I It, n .uadezspiece
eplcle as a relational idem' , I .
In "'Portraying Ourselvcs': ContemporolrY Chicana Artists," Shifra dressed in the symbol of'em J ' Hy. t le younger woman,
Ii a e punty is son '
Goldman traccs the contact points between feminist ideology and Chican- Icr and someone else's virgO _, :1" leonesoverprotccteddaugh_
IlldJ wue-to_be' seat d th
ismo olnd finds Ihal. indeed, the themes of women and children which bride's dress, the older w . ', e on e tri.in of the
Oman IS someone s overbe .
pervolded much of the artWork of Chicanu were seen as both a product omnipresent future mother-in_la In r._ umg mother and
w. "-'U mcn Lomas G '
of olnd a metaphor for female creativilY. mothers nurture their children', ~_ I' arzas two pieces,
. UTeam IVes and rdig' , 'h
lively. [n La FulanQ "sh '" 1 lOllS lau . respec_
, e s Q otro, a sexual aUllSi h J
If there are unifying characteristics [among Chicana artists), they ried man. on to t e over of a Illilr-
include the overwhelming concern with images of womell, their Michael Ennis says in his review of CARA' 1i
condition, and their environment. Many works arc directly or indi- "evokes the scorching sultri th vuln In aas MomMy that La Fulana
ness, e crabilily d th '
rectly olutobiogn.phica1; a certain number deal with sexuality. An- barrio lemptrcss "j. Th· . ,0111 e wearmess ofa
. IS Jrnage, u the reviewer's
other common denominator that has emerged is the tendency (0 use dorscs one of the mOSI deep-seated and .. comrn~llts confirm, en-
. organic rather than geometric form: the rounded comer. the flow- types oftatina women Though I ' ~IlICIOUS m~tream Slcreo-
ing line. the potlike shape shared by clay vessels. the pregnant body. . . ts 100ent IS 10 leave til· .
Impression that Chicano/a art iS "ed fi ' ' . e Viewer with the
and the adobe firepla.ce. 10 rOOm in the exhibition clearly d r e mug ArneflColn tdentitics," the last
emOllstrates that nmd .d ..
been redefined in Chican I J II er t Cntltles have nOI
ola Cll ture and we c 'II I
We can argue, then, that motherhood, regeneration, and female oln- Virgin/Whore <lrchety~,
,..-
'0 .h
represent t e worn
an Stl re yon the mother/
f I '
cestry constituted what could be a.Ued a Chicana aesthetic in the early The "Urban 1m ", . en 0 e Movmliento.
ages Section, whose prind <l.I b .
yeolrs of the Chiano An Movement that mared ceru.in formal and ideo- COntains twenty-seven pieces J fili P ere IS the Pachuca,
logical characteristics with what QII1e 10 be !mown as "runt art" in femi- P~chuco in his ZOOt suit or ' at ~t . teen of which depict either the
. some d envauon ofPath cul
nist circlcs,jl Coupled with iconography from Catholic ritual and pre· In Ch"ptCt I. through 10 CQIISll and the Ch' uce ture.AsweS<1w
Columbian mylhology and stressing lhe political vantage point of the chuco has become one of th . lcallO Art Movement, the Pol-
c most Important icons of Ch'lcano (stress
CARA~ Polilics of RtpfGmIQlion
Figure 4~. CCs.ir A. Mntinez. L4 Fulona (The Other womon), 1985, .1lcryliC on e,\nY.ll$.
Reproduced by permission of the ntiSI.

the 0) resistance. When women appear in the "Urban Images" room, all
except one (which I will focus on later) are shown either as members of
a patriarchal institution like a famlly, a heterosexual couple, or l. beaut)'
pageant or, as we sec in Da.niel G.ilvcz's painting Home Girl #1, as m.l!(
representations of women that signify not mujer culture in the barrio, but . 46.1udith Fr.1l11Cisc.lo B..1lu. " LaJ r,G Morias I' 7,
Figure 6 InIXcu
. _.J m<:<JI.1l.
_.J' PhOlogr.1lph
the presence of Chic.mismo projected ontO the female body like a tattoo "'" . , 0 r the .1lrtISt.
provIded courtesy of the Wight Art G.lollery. Reproduced by ._rmISSlon .
or the stamp on aT-shirt.
What we see in Galvez's portrayal of a Homegirl is not the girl herself,
but the Homeboy's sexual desire for her, the fact tha.t "Iowriders do it
[implicitly to them] low and slow." But the Homegirl is more thiln just
the receiver of the Homeboy's attention; she is, like me Chevy p4inted
across her breasts. owned. manipulated, and altered by the Homeboy to
reflect his style .and his world. She is, in short . .an l5pl'jislIlo. an optic.al il-
lusion of the macho umge looking at himself in a female body.H Only
two pieces in the "Urban Images" section can be said to commemorate
women ptr se: Harry Gamboa's black and white photograph of Chicana
artist PaLSsi Valdez and Judy Raca's mixed-media triptych las Trts Marias,
the only one of twenty-seven pieces in the section done by a woman,
which portrays.and reflects Pachuta/Chola cu\lure.
Espqismos in lAs Trcs MarillS
The "UrbAn Images" room of the CARA exhibit is described in theC<1talog
as a representation of daily life in the barrio: "portray[ing] community
landmarks and events, such as panaderias (bakeries), tortillcrias (tortilla
factories). quinceafieras (girls' coming-of-age celebrations). and concur-
sos de reina (beauty pageanLS):'J4 One of those community institutions
not named in the C<1talog besides the neighborhood cantina is the rosturuia
or dressmner's shop. usually the front room of the rosturtra's house or
ilputment. It is me costurtra who mues your quinaGikra dress. recycles it
into your prom dress, stitches your wedding gown and the gowns of your
lildies-in-waiting. Your mOlher or grandmother goes with you to the cos-
tUTera. and maybe a sister or a cousin or your best friend. Invcsted in the
most meaningful events of your social life, more than a woman's world,
the costureria is a woman's ritual, a ceremony of your socialization as a
heterosexual female. Indispensable lO the dressmaking trade is the three-
p.aneled mirror, .and this is lhe'form lhat Judy B.aC<1 adopts for her Las TrlS
Marias. used originally as a performance piece in 197 6.
Each of lhe lhrce panels is 68· x [6· and 1.'/," deep. mounted on a
platform to render life-sized deplh to the images. The back of lhe triptych
.is stylized as velour-upholslered seats in a lowrider. The two side panels
are Masonite over wood. On the proper left panel Baca has painted a Pa-
chuca from the J 940S: tight black skirt, narrowing at the knees. wide
patent-leather belt, lUcked-in white blouse with rolled-up sleeves and a
butterfly imprinted on one side. a scarf tied around the neck. low-heeled
buckle shoes. and .an ankle bracelet. The Pachuca's hair is done up in the
Homegirl style of lhe day, with razor blades tucked into her curls; her
eyebrows are plucked into a high arch, her lips and nails glow bright
red. Standing wilh her weight on her right leg, right hip thrust sideways,
her head cocked slightly back. she is laking a drag ofT a cigarette and is
CARA~ PlIIilia of RcprClnlldliOll
just about to take the cigarette out of her mouth between her index .and
middle fingers. In her other hand, held down below her hip. she holds a
long-tailed comb, reminiscent of the Pachuco's lilcro. Thougb she seems to
be looking sideways, ber heavily lined eyes are angled obliquely toward
the viewer. Tauoocd on lhe fingers of her left hand are letters that spell
LOCA, a barrio designation for Cholas and Paclmcas.
In the proper right panel. Baca has palmed a 1970S Chola. like the
Pachuca thirty years earlier, tlle Chola is a city girl, street-wise, defiant,
da.ngero~s. lhe feminine version of the Cholo or Homeboy. Despite her
thickly lined eyes, lhough. Baca's Chola is an almost boylike figure. in
baggy black pants. black "zombie slippers," n a loose black pullover with
the sleeves pushed up to her elbows. hands deep in her pockets. Her hair
parted in the center. hangs flat ilgainst her shoulders. Barely visible on th~
inside of her right arm is lhe lOCA tattoo. If we compare Baca's Chola
with Daniel Galvez's Home Girl # I, we note the same masculinized stance
but in Galvez's Homegirl we also see an attention to mueu'p, COiffure:
and fashion that is more consonant with B.aca·s Pachuca. In olher words
a more intentionally "feminine" sexuality is connoted in lhe images of
the Pachuca and the Homegirl. Baa could well be making a distinction
between the flashier dress styles of lhe Pachuco/Pachuca generation and
me gilnglike uniformity of lhe more contemporary Cholo generation as
well as betwccn (at least) two kinds of female identity. B.aca's middle fig-
u:e, however, ultimately determines the politics of identity impliCit in lhe
piece.
Th~ mid~Jc panel is a mirror. More than reflecting the Viewer's image.
the llllTTOr lllcorporatcs the viewer into the text of las Trts Marias. Stephen
Greenblatt argues that a strong work of art should evoke a mixture of
"resonancc" and "wonder" in the viewer:
By fCSOOanct I mean the power of the displayed object to reach out be-
yond its formal boundaries to a larger world, to evoke in the viewer
the complex, dynamic cultural forces from which it has emerged
and for which it may be taken by a viewer to sland. By wondu I mean
the power of the displayed object to stop the viewer in his or her
tracks, to convey an arresting sense of uniqueness, to evoke an ex-
alted attention. JI
Indeed, one piece that stops you in your tracks is Las Trcs Maril1S. You are
.lCrcstcd by your own image. A minute ago you were standing in a mu-
loCum looking at multiple representations of Chicanismo and suddenly
QU[ of [he HOW(
you are looking .at yourself in <\ dressma.ker's mirror. Bounduies h<\ve
shifted. If you ue <\ m<\instrc<\lll viewer (remember: the CARA exhibit is,
fin<\J1y, <\ m.ainstre.arn exhibit), the optial illusion Ins for <\ moment de-
centered you by pl.acing you between twO im<\ges of la oUa, thus remov-
ing the dist<\nce between lhe observer <\nd the observed. The text <\ccom-
p<\nying lhe piece st<\tes th.at the triptych is mcmt to vlsu<\lly interrog<\tc
lhe virgin/mother/whore pa.radigm lhat palriarcha.\ cultures impose 011
women. If so, docs that mean you represent one of those stereotypes?
Which one? Where <\l'e you?
Ama.li<\ Mcsa.-Bains inlerpreLS l.4s TrtS Marias ~ m inst.illuion pie<:e th.tl
plays on the multiple roles that the p<\chuca of 1940S ... <\nd the
chola or ruca of the 19705 ... have assumed ovcr time. This piece,
whose title rCC.llls the Three Muys of the crucifixion, sets up a good
wom<\n/b<\d wom<\n s.atire by positioning <\ mirror so th,ll it ap-
tures the \iewer in the center of these extremes.)'
A Pachuco or a Cholo looking into the mirror of BaC<l'S triptych would
find .tlfinity and recognition in the figures of the Pachua <\nd the Chol<l;
what hc would prob<l.bly overlook, however, is lhe bct tlut his own im~
<lge, cenmlucd bClwecn the twO fem.ue Un<\ges, is the crCAtOr of the vir-
gin/mother/whore stereotype in which he finds himself reflected. Thef<\-
mous slogan ofChicano!<l. resist<\nce-Chicano Power!-was, indeed, <lboUI
Chican-O. As Angie Chahram notes her essay "I Throw Punches for My
Race, But I Don't Want to Be <\ Mm: Writing Us-Chia-nos (Girl, Us)/
Chicanas-into the Movement Script,"
if Chicanas wished to receive the authorizing signature of predomi-
nmt movement discourses and figure within the record of Mexican
pucticcs of rcsistmcc in the U.S., then they h<ld to embody them-
selves 60S males, ildopt tr.adition.al fmlily reb.tions, md dwell only on
their r.aci.al il.nd lor ethnic oppression. Yet even this type ofdefinition,
which implies affirming oneself through the symbolic construction
of .an other, was deceptive, since Chicano nationalism was <lIsa predi-
cated on the necessity of mimesis: <\ one-to-one correspondence be-
tween the subjcct <\.nd i~ reflection i.n mirror-like dupliation. iO
Through mimesis, sa.ys Ch.abr.am, Chicanos succeeded in milfgin<llizing
their Chic.ana counterparts. One of the messages of Las ires Marias, then.
could be directed ilt the m<lle "saviors" of the Movement who cbimed
the glory for themselves, while las mUjeres, <\s usu.al, did the cle<lning up,
the lying down, the nurturing, the weeping. But the more pertinent mes-
s.age of the piece is directed <ll <\ femaJe <\udience. The question is, how
does that message chmge according to the differences llw CAch femile
viewer brings to that middle im.age?
In .the reproduction of the triptych that .appears in the CARA c<\talog,
the Viewer photographed in thc middle is the <lnist herself. Interestingly,
the model for the P.achua side of the triptych was also Judy Ba.a-or
r.ather, photographs of Baca tuen in 1974 by Donn<l Deitch, well-known
among feminist film critics as the director ofDesert Hearts (1985), .a lesbian
coming-out story set in 1950S Nev<ld<l. We have alreildy est.ablished that
Las Tres Marias is a subversive text bec.ause it undermines prescriptive gen-
der codes in Chicano/Mexic.ano culture. Another re<lding ofw Tres Marias
implies defi<lnce of wh<\t Adrienne Rich c.uls "compulsory heterosexu<\l-
ity." While <\ppropri.ating the dressm.aker's mirror, symbol ofheterosex-
uaJ socialiution, the artist presents the female viewer with the option
of.a g<ly (more m.asculinized) or <\ str.aight (more feminized) identity.
Of course, sexual Identities ilfe never that de<lr-cut. If the viewer is <l
white lesbian of the Monique Wittig school that believes lesbi.ans.are not
women, she may repudi.ate the heterosexual <\ppcarolllce of the P.achua,
md <It the same time feel alien<lted from the Chol.a's nd<ll.attributes. If the
viewer is a. Chican<\ lesbi<ln of the butch/femme school, she will identify
with the butch Cbob and desire the femme Pachua (or vice versa). If the
viewer is a closeted lesblm she may overlook the entire issue of sexuaJity
md focus inste.ad on loc.ating herself on the gener.ational continuwn of
Las ires Marios. And finilly, if the viewer is a st.aunch "Hispanic" mher
tholll <l Chic.ana, she may not sec or W<lnt to recognize herself in the mirror
at all.
Implicit in the Virgin/mother/whore trilogy of oppressions repre-
~ntcd by the three M.arys of the Crucifixion .arc the im.ages of La Virgen
de Guad.uupe, La Uorom, olIld LJ. MaJinche-the female trinity of
Chicilll<\ identification that artists like Judy Bd.ca, Yoland.a LOpez, .and Ester
Hernandez have reappropriated to their own ends. As .already mentioned,
one of the first and most enduring icons of Chicano popul.u culture is the
im,lge of the Mcxia.n Virgin ofGu.adaJupe, re-visioned .and re-presented
in the "Feminist Visions" room 60S a symbol of female empowennent
wher than feminine submission. In the etching La Virgm de Guadalupe Ddm-
dimdo los Derechos de los Xicanos, Ester Hernandez depicts the Virgin as a kar.ate
 her hand like a mJf of poWcf. Crushed underfoot is the ,mgd, described
by L6pcz as a middle-aged agent of patriarchy, whose wings arc red,
white. and blue.
A sclf-dccl.trcd iconoclast, LOpez explained in a talk delivered al the
Univcrsily ofCaliforni.l. Irvine, that she depicted tltis Lupita 01 as "jump~
iDg offlhe crescent moon, jumping off the pedestal she's been given by
Chicanos." U Both Hcrllandcz's and LOpez's portrayals of the Guadalupana
alter the passive femininity of lhe traditional image to communicate femi-
nist empowerment through change and physical action.
A Chicana reinscription ofLl Virgen not shown in CARA, perhaps bc-
c.luse it was crealed after 1985 (the cutoff date of the show), and which
has an overtly lesbian tone, is Ester Hern,indez's serigraph La Ofrenda, used
on the cover of Carla Trujillo's groundbrealdng anthology Cbkdna Wiam:
Th( Gills Our Mothtrs Worntd Us About (first edition). La Ofrmda depicts the
traditional Guadalupe image as a tattoo on a Latina's back. The offering
collnou.-. d in the serigraph's titlc is the rose prescnted by a woman's hand
emerging from the lower left-hand corner of the piece; the rose does not
so much honor lhe Virgin as it honors the woman who bears the Guad.1.-
lupe image on her body and thus, by association, represents the object of
the unseen woman's devotion. The rose is also symbolic of the gift-giver's
sexuality.
Hernandez's Libmod etching, one of the culiest images ofChiQlla femi-
nist art, however, is induded in "Feminist Visions" and is.1. reinterprel.1.-
tion of the motherland symbol. with whom the legendary Uorana has
sometimes been equated by both Chicano and Chicana pocts. 4J In this
work, Hernandez again appropriates and subverLS a cultural icon, nOl
from her Mexican heritage, but from mainstream U.s. cuhure, to extend
Chicano/a consciousness, emblematized by the word "Aztlan," to the East
Coast, where one of lhe most traditional symbols of U.S. nationality is
located. Here the Statue of Uberty's name has been changed to "Libcr-
tad," and the imposing figure from European mythology is lransformed
•• 1:....... 7. POfliaitl){ lhe Allist lIS the VifSiD of GoodaluPf. 191 8 • oil putd
FlguK47.YO;lfiI d ~lYI."""f'-' . by a Chicana sculptor into a pre·Cohmlbian goddess welcoming her pte
011 paper. RcproduCL-d by penni~iol\ of lhe ul1S!.. to the New World of AztUn. To further compound the irony, this etch-
ing was completed during the nation's bicentennial. In "A Conversation
with Ester Hernandez," the artist tells the interviewer, Theresa. Harlan,
. .. I be that Uncle sam or the story behind lhe piece:
bb.a-bell kicking at the mVlSIb c oppressor. I. ._
. 0" Riveras of the C Heino " ..
the sclf~indulgenl. ;md o;cr) ~alr::1a ~~g;;,PCz's Porllait of the Arlist as thr: I did Ubertad as all etching when I was in Fran Valesco's c1as~ [in the
Movement (see Figure 5 . 0 .h I art department at the University of California, Berkeley] in 1976. I
. h V' . ~~ a marathon runner Wit museUM
;:5
V' d G adalupe depicts I e ng m ....
:n~ calves, wearing white track shoes and holding the serpent in already had a drawing of it fcom 19H. The Statue of Uberty was

CJ.R.... ~ PoliliG of Rtprcsml G1illll


Figure 4 8 . Ester Hem.lndez. Libutod. 1976. elC mg. cpr
uti$l..
. ." fl d Uncle Sam and allthaL I did Ubertad to show
everylillng. u,e ag an
r th Amerias Borders did not always eXIst.
the indigenous roots a e .
but migriltions have always occurred. That
lenni'll contribution....
The political message of the piece is clear. Chicanos las are nOI immi-
grams to lhe United States. nor were lheir Mexican forbears, nor their
Native American ancestors who occupied. the continent long before the
Statue of Liberty-which, at the tum of the century. Ruben Dario inter-
preted as a symbol of "easy conquest"U-we!comed European immi-
grants to her colonial shores. For Hernilldez. the Sutue of liberty is a
meaningless symbol unless Us syncretic ethos, its indigenous core. its mes-
tiZllj~. is discovered. and recovered. like La Malinche. then, the Statue of
libertad juxtaposes European md NOltive Americm ideologies ofconquest
U1d freedom. Although there Me no pieces in CARA about La Malinche. I
would like to suggest that this figure. Libmod. offers us a very powerful
symbol of resistance not only to assimilation but also to patriarchal in-
scriptions of Aztlin.
~ther thm the chOlste virgin. the weeping mother, and the treacherous
whore. u. LupitOl. La L1orona. and La MOllinche arc now configured as
powerful icons of ChicanOl resistance to cwtuul hegemony and patriar-
chill domination. u. tupiLl. can be a karOlte expert, a marathon runner.
or 4 seamstress. and she can illso represent 4 religious rntSlimjt that in-
cludes European Catholicism, New World santeria, and indigenolls Ameri-
COln beliefs that go back OlS far as lhe Maya; La Uorona's weeping is now
interpreted as an oppositional screOlm againsl pa.triuchal inscriptions of
womanhood, and among Chicana lesbians she symbolizes defiance 10
compulsory heterosexuality: La Malinche, once the Mexican Eve Olccused
of the downfa.ll of the Aztec empire. is now an affirmation ofla indio, who
lives. SOlyS Chicana poet Ines Hemindez. inside "every single woman,
Chican,l/Mcxicana/lllesliza, who has refused unconditionally to accept
,my longer any foml of oppression or violation of her self, whalever thaI
source. and who hu committed herself to .. universal struggle for jus-
lice Olnd dignilY. as lhey say in the Indian community. for 'all our relOl-
tions.' "4b Hernandez (the poet) argues that Chicana writers Olnd artists
.lIe all daughters of La Malinche: "those women who have accepted their
role olS 'tongucs' and demanded lhat their voices be heard."41
Following the lead of Mexican crilic Octavia PolZ. Chicano patriarchy
h" R oduced by permission of the continues to construct Malinche as La Chingada, the fucked one. and
t\'okcs her name to censure and millign muj~rtS who fOlil to conform to
thrir prescribed roles Olnd functions. But as I ugue in my review of the
lilcmUTe of Chicana lesbians,
.
me binary choices allotted to Malinche Me reductive. Even though
w«s m American Biceo-
y Malinche was not a lesbian (0lS far as we know). the Chicana lesbian
 is a Malinchista. As Chicana, she must interpret and negotiate the exhibition, for il was the flv - be .
nelli ]ud Bel R . ~ e mem r Selectlon Committee-Edith To-
three cultures that spa\~ned her, a spawning born of struggle, domi- ' .. y ca, cne Yanez. Holly Belmct-Sanchez, and Marcos San h
nation, and anger. As lesbiana, she is always engaged in the process TranqU111ll0~and t h ' .
e nlile regional committees-headed b V'
e ez-
of sclf-creation. Out of corn, water, and hme the torlilluCI makes the Sorell, Pedro Rodriguez Tom.i YbH F Y Ictor
Avalos Carl Sa' ' .. s ra- r.l.usto, Zulma Jimenez, David
masa of her identity." , os nllstevm, AliCia Gonz.ilez, Bernadene Rod .
and Am..tia Mesa-B.ains-who chose th . ngua-LeFebre•
. ., . e Imagery thai would best
As Adclaida del D.stillo, Norma Alarron, Cherrie Moraga, and Deena 5Cnt the cxlubil s IIltc.rpretatiOIl of Ih e Chicano Art Movement 0 repre- th
Gonzilcz have demonstrated ..• a feminist re-vision of the m..te myth as we ~w in Chapler 2, their own muhifaceted and contf;ldi r ra. er,
of La Malinche as traitorlseUoutiwhore can serve as a model for de- ofthat mterpretation. Though it is possible that Ih . ctory ~ews
mow th b d h f . cse committees did not
stereotyping the images of Chicanas and Chicma lesbians, who have be- d . e rca I 0 Chicana art, or even thai the art produced b Chi
come the latter.day Malinches of Chicano culture.. In this postmodern age nas urlng the twenty-year scope of the cxh'b' . y ca-
of shifting signifiers and signifieds, and in the same way thal euly femi- issues of biological dcsl,'ny I d I ilion did, indeed, focus on
, ten to agree wilh Ch . M '
nist artists reclaimed the word"cunt" and thilt gay and lesbian discou.rses that a revisionary narrative abou erne oraga s view
the exhibit: t gender and sexuality was absent from
have reapproprialed the word "queer" and invested it with the power of
self-naming, Chicana lesbians can take "Malinchista" away from the op-
pressive and degrading signification ofpalrian:hy. bell hooks believes lhat What
J was missing in [CARAJ was ,.ulC rage and revenge of WOI
in order to resist hegemony from every frolll women of color must com- t 1e recognition
d . that the violcnce of racism-. andmisogyny
' has 11en,
dis-
mil ourselves to "militant" resistance-a resistance rooted in the margins tone .our view of ourselves. What was missing was a portrait of
and on the homefront, not afraid of sacrifice, and enemy \0 the sclf- ~ualIlY.for men and WOmen independent of motherhood d
defealing practice ofnihilism.~a Indeed, Chicana historians, theorists, and clllsmo' I f I - an ma+
' 'Images 0 Ile male body as violador and vulnerable and of
wrilers have begun to lransform the sLOry ofMalinche into an example of th elemaebod y as lh ' 0 f woman--cemered desire Th '
e sHe
mililmt female resistance on lhe homefront of Chicanismo. no visible d 1 b' . ere was
. ga~ an es Ian response to our chicanidad lha
To be a Malinche is to be a traitor: to the csscntializing, stercotypiaI, challenge mSlltulion..tized and . dl h. t would
break d mill ess elerosexual coupling; no
male-privileged gender codcs of me race; thus, M;llinche is a new mirror . and shake-up of La Familia y t. Igl CSla,
. - Iown " no portr.all' of
for ChiQIla posterity lO look Upoll and in which lO be reflected. From this our ISO allon, of machismo as monstruo of I I d'
mirror arises the vision of Malinchismo, a new theory of Chicma resis- muted in the body of la Chicana $I • a n Igena erased and
tance. The Greek word throria (the etymology oflheory) originally memt
an act of viewing, reRection, and observation, an imaginativecontempla· ATrip to the Men's Rooms
tion of reality. As we contemplate our own images in this mirror, as we
slep out of the W.e., out of the halo, the house, and the whore's mask,let Before leaving the Women's Closel in CARA let me ..
us reBect upon this: Chicanas arc no longer cspqismos, optical illusions of live COntexl with the three frecstandin "n;en's r:lac~, It III a cOlllpara-
btions of lhe RCAF (m Roy.1 CI . g. illS, the grupo instal-
cl MovimielltO. There is a new aesthetics of affirmation and resistance, lIcano Air Force) of s.
Four and ASCO be h b . cramellto and Los
and one of its names is Malinchismo. , I ased III Los Angeles. The first Ihin tl .
"The master's tools cannot dismantle the master's house," wrote Audrt ~bout lhese installations is that both th . . g lat stands Out
niscellt of domestic' . elr oUler and lImer forms are remi-
Lorde.si CARA was the first major national art cxhibition to inlervene 1\"' ny and Spirituality, domains traditionally assigned to
in lhe master's house; nonetheless, it brought and used some of the olllen. the home and the home altar. With their doorw .
master's tools, in this case, gender politiCS that were typically patriar- dows, walls and roofs the th ", .. ays, stOOps, WIn-
. , r e e men s rooms are cas;! h lh
chal, reflections of the madrc/virgen/pula .m:helypcs ofChiallo/Mcxiallo
popular culture. More than a commenlMy on lhe sexual politics of Chi-
:I~~::~~:~::~t:a~e:f~;;nb0yf~~:~~oOm(e
.
ahF'~' a domestic s;~ ~~~i:on~
sec Igures 7 and 1-9)I
emo Mtists, this critique is ultimately about the selection process of the In her dissertation , "M'
eXlca.n- Am' .
encm Women's Home Altars: The

CARA~ Politics of Rtprf:Smtotion Out 0( lilt House


Figure 49. View from inside the ReM wito. lru;t~l1oltion lholl W.l.5 pm of CARA: Chi-
CMlO Art: Res.isLlncc md Affirmoltion, ahibition hdd olt UCLA's Wight Art G~ry.
September 9-Dec:cmbcr 9. 1990. Photograph provided (ourtcsyofthe Wight Art
Golllcry.
Art of Reluionship," Kay Turner sees the conslrUction of altus as a form
of resistance to "~l.riarchal alienati<.:m," "Deep within the interior of her
home the woman's private altar has been a separate space dediCdled to the
fulfillment of her own ideology, an ideology given to the fruition ofsocbl
reluionships and opposed to alienalion," U Paradoxically, of course, resis·
tance to alienation takes the form of a "sepante space," which, nonethe-
less, is devoted to promoting "social relationships" through the inter-
cession of saints and spirits. Although it is cssentializing to asswne tNt
women arc more ideologically predisposed to discourse with the spiritual
world than men, it is lrue lhat, for the most part, home altars arc the do·
main of mothers olnd grandmothers in Mcxicoln/Chicano/a culture. That
the three artists' collectives honored in CARA have all chosen or ~D
assigned the domestic form of an altar to represent themselves in the his·
tory of the Chicano Art Movement is more than another example of molle
appropriation of a space and a discourse traditionally manipulated by
women: it signifies, I would argue, the canonization of these male·
dominolnt grupns, the fact that they (and no others, and certainly not ;my
women's collectives) deserve to be memorialized as dearly departed an-
cestors or heroic pioneers of the Chicano Art Movement. I do not mean
here to demean the important contributions ofthese three groups, which
I will discuss below, only to suggest, through a semiotic analysis of the
Structure used to represent them in the show, that their reification epito-
mizes the male privilege undcrs(;oring the entire exhibition,
The Royal Chicano Air Porce, originally named the Rebel Chicano Art
Front, was organized in 1968 by California St.tte University ut professors
J~ Montoya and Esteban Villa, along with Ricudo Favela, who was their
student at the time. The RCAF w.tS committed to integrating artistic pro-
duction and political action withill the Chicano community, Famous for
popularizing two slogans in their art, In locum In curu and «quI ataffi05 y no nos
\'lUIlOS'.~· the RCAF encouraged Chicano artists to express their working-
elm sensibilities atId indigenous claims to Azuin. As the cat.tlog of the
exhibition informs us;
Their aim for the community was creation ofpolitical self-conscious-
ness, educational advancement, cultivation of the indigenous heri-
tage, and its influence on present identity .tnd art, and the retrieval
ofChicano history and culture, , , [which they saw as] distinct from
Mexic.tn culture, while acknowledging the important connections
between the twoY
I...tr ered with photogr.tphs, posters. Movimiento buttons, pre-Colombian
iconography, images of Pachucos .tnd the Virgin of Guadalupe, fe.tthers,
dried com, and children's.trt from one of the group's Barrio Arts pro-
gr~ms-the RCAF installation documents the group's locura. a craziness of
spirit reminiscent of sha.manic transformation rituals in which a poverty-
md crime-beleaguered community is transformed through active engage-
;Itenl in Chic.1no cultural production.
Los Four w.tS the first Chicano artists' coUC(:tive (indeed, the first Chi-
ano artists) whose work was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Mu-
~um of Art, in 1974. The group included Carlos Almaraz,~~ Frank Ro-
mero, Gilbert "Magu" LUjin, and Roberto de 1a Roc.Iu. The "unofficial"
Efth member of the group was Judithe Hernandez, who collabouted on
lOme of the group's projcas. like the RCAF, los Four were committed to
political art, but they also believed in "institutionalizing their efforts in
Cfder to establish an economic base. In 1975", the four members Signed
L':e charter for incorporation for the group," S7 Known for their spray-can
art which combined graffiti and icons drawn from Chicano popular cul-
ture-such as the lowrider. the crucifix. the 5.1cred Heart symbol. as well
as pre-Colombian motifs-Los Four contributed a keenly politicized vi~
sion 10 the anistic producr.ion of el Movimicnto.
The altar constructed against the bright yellow wall of the Los Four
installation mimics the shape of an Aztec pyramid. each tier crammed
with objects that signify both Chicanola and California popular culture:
model cars and a.irplanes, Mexican masks, Call1\'Cr4$, a toy slot machine.
plastic palm trees. and corazones. Cases mounted along the side walls con-
tain .archival documenLS of the group's history: meeting notes. sketches,
receipts, phOiographs, even bank statemenLS showing the dwindling of
the group's account, a.nd ot.her papers documenting their problems with
funding and the difficulties in getting paid for their work (see Figure 17). ,
Another anisLS' collective that sprouted in Los Angeles was a multi-
media, conceptual performance group that called itself ASCO (which
means nausea in Spanish). composed of H.arry Gamboa, Gronk, Willie
Herron, and Patssi ValdCz. u Rather than focusing on Chicano/a folklore
and popular cult.ure, ASCO sought to critique eI Movimiento and strip it
of its romantic nat.ionalist agenda that. according to Marcos Sa..nchcz-
Tranquilino. f;ailed to serve "the immediate needs of the Chicano com-
munity." ~~ Chicano film scholar ChOll Noriega, co-curator of Rcvdllciones/ ~
Figure SO. Willie HcrrOu ~Ild Gronk Thr bl~.... •
kvdlllions: Hispanic An of EI'Q.Daccnce at Cornell University in 199..... says thaI " ' "-Ii _ WllIlt Murul I
nown ~ tllc MOlUlorium Mural) L_ d ' 973- 1980 (.lIso
"in street performance and conceptual art. ASCO provided a postmodern PI . <aIr. ,\ COUrts Housi P .
lOIogro\ph provided .,:nunes, of lil ,,__. I ng rOlect, Eut los Angdes.
voice within the Chicano An Movement. one that questioned the esscllli;al R c: """1'\ ,\nd Public An Rc:soI
cproduced by permission of Willie Herron. 'n.:cCClllc:r (SPARe).
idemit y ofcultural nationalism, but also the societal alld instiwtional rac-
ism of Los Angeles... ·,
Indeed, the ASCO installation is arguably the most poslmodcrn piece Angeles demonstration to between 10
in the CARA exhibition. Combining the mainstream American icon of the lacked by sheri ITs deputies, the marcl::C a~d 30,000 ~ople. At-
television with the traditional Mexic;an icon of the altar. the border icon ;tnd, in a related inCident Los An"'" . as dispersed WillI tear gas
of the chain-link fen<.'C. and the cross-cultural icon of the wedding veil. was killed.'l ' I f ' - ' a Tuna reponer, Ruben Salazar.
and set against part of the Black and While Mural created by Gronk and Willi~
Herron as a memori;a\ to the Chicano Moratorium of 1970, the insta\b.- The Upper-right section of the Block and Wh'
tion is. at first sight, an avalanche of confusion thai requires knowledge screaming face was us--'
<1ll'S h L_ Ile Mural fOCusing on the worn.
"-u as t e IJdd:rlrop in th ASCO' .
of the history of the moratorium for iLS deconstnlclion. Two teleVisions sit behind 'h . L " ,. e Installauon.
. e ulatn· lUX 0a.te both I
Circular platform that in th bl '. eo' p aced On a black
In 1969, about 1.000 people organized by the Brown Berets dem- • e ue radIatIOn of the ni h
rock. The platform is tih--' d h c e. resembles a lava
. , cu, an t e televisio
onstrated in East Los Angeles to prOtest the Vietnam War and the gl\'mg the impression of 11' llS appear to be sliding olT
Th ch' '"
high percentage of dlicano military being k.illed in Southeast Asia. a co
lic:wer from Cnterino th.. ~~ _.J a.pslllg altar • e alll- ~k fence keeps the'
eo '- .... cr..- u space of the t I ..
Another march of 6.000 people took place in February 1970. In Au- di~lance between the b e ('VISIon, underscorino the
o server and the observed eo
gust 1970, the National Moratorium Committee swelled the Los bc:twcen two types of pop I I. . as well as the distance
u ar cu ture: Ihe "safe" kind which is broadcast
CAIlA~ Pulitio: of RqllestJItotion
Oulllf lhe 1I0t1st
, ,

most influenced the "guest's" artistic career. A robot, a space ship, a llU-
clear explosion, an evil "alien" dressed in a polyester space suit, or, ;IS the
utist sees it, "a shower cap and shower curt;lin," .ppc.r on the screen.
Since Chicanos/as .ue seen .s pan of the .lien army invading the south-
ern borders of the coumry, the images of the space movie send absurd
messages to the viewer about alien invasion and cultural holocaust which
mock the Ill;linstrcalll phobia offorcigners and "iIleg,1I ;r,liens."
While the viewer figures out that the talk show is • mockery of televi-
sion and movies, as well as a culturally schizophrenic dialogue between
the artist and himself, or, rather, between a Chic.lna's artistic identity and
his "other" persona as an alien, tbe images of the Black and Whitt Mural in
the hackground-the panicked faces of the protesters, the gas-masked po-
lice, the thorn-pierced heart of the Sacred Heart of Jesus-confront the
viewer with his/her own ignorance of the event and immunity to vio-
lence against people of color.
What is the purpose of the white. ephemeral wedding veil draped in
the corner of the niche?~' On the one hand, it can be read as an ironic
representation of the loss of innocence th;lt comes with realizing that" de-
mocrOlcy" is as much 01 farce.s Gronk's "date with the utist," that free-
dom of speech and freedom of assembly are constitutional rights for me
ethnicity in power but criminal activities for "Others." On the other hand,
f (A!\{\." Chio.:~lIo An: Rcsis-
ASCO ,,"ita InSl,lU,llioll th;tl W,lS pMl 0 . the veil, traditionally worn by women in a marriage ceremony as a sym-
Figure S I. The . .. Id UC' '....5 Wight Art G;l.l\cry. SeplClllber 9- bol of the commodity to be exchanged between me bride's famer and her
. exhibition he ,ll ..
Wlce .lnd Affi rffi,l1l0l1. flhe Wight Art G.lUery.
Pho<oguph provi.d~ coun~y 0 future husbOlnd (her chOlstity), can be a signifier of the violation of con~
December 9. 1990 .
" k"nd occurring in the streets slitutional rights. Given that the only ASCO members really represented
. r d the" dangerous by the installation are Gronk and Willie Herron, ~~ the veil can also signify
r ' d pandemonium in the Blad:
on an inteno screen an
7.
b I.l images 0 pam an
rod mcmoriillizl.-u Y Ie d f 'C ob'Je<:tive cultunl vo- absence; although ASCO may have questioned Chicano nationalism and
"I th "bUn eye 0 UIe institUlionii racism, and though the group, indeed, played with the no-
and White Murol. Me;a.nwht e. e I .. S .. J c.lled "A Date with
k h w on one of the te eV1SIon • tion of shifting sexual identities, a sustained questioning of gender ineq-
YeuT" watches a ul s. O b
whom I 0 serv
ed did oottake the lime to
the Artist." Moslofthcvlcwers d' 1 d rcmarkcdon"howcon· uities is conspicuously absent from their work. Indeed, as Shifra Goldman
. n. agram an ,inS ca . points OUl, Patssi Valdez, the only full-time female member of the group,
listen to the closed-cuCU ,pr .. th . t.ulalion seemed to them. An aJUly·
fusing" or "how inacccss1bl,c .. c toS er reve;als an incisive critique rJ. "in the early years, was often the 'target' of the men's .ctions, whether
5i!> of "A D,lle with the Arnst, howev, . a parody of eultuui taped-up in a Super~8 or on a wall.""
the 'narcissism of American life and, at the same tlllle, Of oiIl the pieces in the CARA exhibit thal function as mctanarratives
schizophrenia. . be' ;.. terviewed ue the wm behind the face, Marcos Raya's Through Frida~ Eyes best conceptualizes the
h d the uust mg ....• dynamics of power and gender inherent in the selection process, again,
The host of the. s ow an f ASCO "I've known this ~
of the five members o · ~.J __ ,l. through the metaphor of vision .nd the use of eye-conography. It is also
man-Gronk ,one , , " as Gronk the "guest" smiles muuou}
all my life," says Gronk the "I~ost . d f dips from Tht [)(vii Girl fit¥: an oiIlegory for the "insider't"outsider" polemics at the heart of the cul-
.l.. ". "ew is comprise 0 .............lh. tunl politics of the exhibition.
The bulk of u,e UlterVI . f the early 1960s that SUPl""""-;
Mars, 01 blOick-and-white sp.1ce mOVie 0

Oul of the HollSt

 a lush garden; OIl the windowsill sits a pre-Columbian figure of a child
with arms uplifted. Proportionately spcak.ing. the idol seems enlarged
while Diego appears reduced. lhough he is laking up all of the doorv.·ay.
symbolically blocking Frida's p.lSy.ge Oul of the confines of her emotions_
The scene ill "Frida's" righl eye cOl1lains three images of Frida that
bal<lI1ce alit the male imagery in the left eye-two sclf-porlr~ts.one with
lhe Communist hammer and sickle pail1led on her body cast and a fetus
curled inside her belly and another of Frida and her monkey. Fulang-
Chang. looking back al the viewer; Diego's physical correspondence is
Frida's naked body strelched out on the sarapc-covercd bed. while the
pre-Columbian idol corresponds to a b,ughing skeleton that hangs near
the fOOtboard_ The window and doorway on the left side are b.aJ.lIIced by
the [wo canvases on the right. thresholds to different worlds.
The yin/yang reciprocity ofthe imagery is obvious (even iflefl is mas-
culine and right is feminine rather than vice vers.1). The left side repre-
S<.'lltS the male world of movemelll, growth. continuance; lhe right side

reprcseills the female world of sexuality, ill1rospccl.ion, death. Together,

the two scenes compose the clements that make up "Frida's" life: her art.
her politics, her relationship to Diego, her problems with her body. her
loneliness. her preoccupation with death. her indigmismo, her bisexuality.
There is. however, something not quite right with the vision, something
off historical kilter. The clue comes with d Che (sec Figure 11): the fa-
mou!> black. and red image of tl (he reproduced by Raya did not become a
part of Latin American popular culture ulUil the late 19 sos and therefore
Fl ure ~1. Marcos Raya. Thl(ltlgh Frida~ E~. '984, acryl:( on UliVU. Collection of
could not have graced the walls of Frida's bedroom while she was alive.
~ . oduttd by permissiOn of lhe .ntlSl.
Dolores M. DIU. Rcpr lenin wa!> there; so were Engels, Marx, Stalin, and Mao, lined up in the
y.me frame and hung on the wall in front of her bed. So why has Raya
Tbrough FridQ~ Eyts: Morc Eye-Conography placed Che in the picture? He has obviously visited or seen pictures of !II
{llSO azul de Coyoaoin." seen the coloveras hanging from the bedroom w.aJl, the
.' he .a.nist is looking through the eyes of
As the title of the work mdlo,tCS,l dly reveals not only the ab- pre-Columbian figures lining the shelves in Frida's studio, the Conununist
.. - .d .. view that suppose
Frida Kahlo. an I1\SI cr 'fi moment but <llso the very na- heroes gazing b.ad: at the bedridden artist. Indeed, except for Che's image,
iCC1S of "Frida's" vision at thalkspec~_cl. d her f~cc the "frAllle:' so LO the visioll that Raya paints" through Frida's eyes" is almosl realistic in the
d eye soc cts uc un ' !>ensc that it reproduces those objects that Frida probably did see from her
sal passages, gums, an. f . "Frida's" actual ficldofvision.
S....MIt, of lhOit vision. Inside the filmc, l~ ed with a meticulous \-M1tage poillt on the bcd. Clearly. tI Che is not <llxmt Frida; the image
r-- b' nary opposites compos
we sec lWO separate scenes, I . "F.d'" left eye contains three m~ !>erves as a linking device between the arlisl and his subject that establishes
. Thcscencm n;IS .
olJt .l.ffinity.
attenUon to symmeuy. . of Che Guevaril ,md Diego
f L ' above a picture Now let us step away from the painting and analyze the affinities that
images-a piclUrc 0 emil f the room in his dungarees ud
_1'1." lhr ugh lhe doorway 0 ~l.l.rcos Raya h.lS painted between himself and Frida Kahlo. In "Histories
Rivera WoLU-tDg 0 _ . I. cy of lhe images for lhe IDO'
- d the hlstona. maccura - of the Trib.al and the Modern," James Clifford, through his <llLllysis of art
floppy hat (dlsreg ar f. d the pictures indiC<lte their efu·
- d size 0 Diego an exhibits in New York City in 1984. spccific.aJly the Museum of Modern
ment). The comprcssc . luge windoW looking ontO
,"F,·,da " Beside the doorway 1S a
lance f ron. .
Out of 1M HOIUI:
CARA\ PolitiC! 01 RfprtSClll atioll
 ~ ,
pieces), the Virgin ofGuad.lupe, the word "Azl.1in," and Ricardo Flores
. Art. Affinit of the Tribal ond the Modern, en-
Art'S "PrimitIYism" m 20th Century ~ . y llinity exists between so~ Magan (one piece each). Why are there five "Frida" imilges and no Che
. h lind of \anship. or iI ' Guevaras or Diego Riveras or corozom:s or calaYeIllS, arguably mo~ represen-
tiques the nouon t at a d th t of Modernist painters such
. Af'can)artan ear tative of the cultunl politics of el Movimiento unn Kahlo?
ulled tri~1 (meanl.Dg n d minators whichistheprem-
nshuingcommOn e no, "d' The first Chicmo artist to use Fridil's image in his work is Rupert Gar·
as Pica~o, Rat her th a Mod ;<t art says Clifford, has IS-
th MOMA show ern.., , d. cia, whose 197 S silkscreen !.hilt ilppears in the CARA icons room was
isc of especially e . ~l' pcrialist discoveries, conquere It
covered" African art and, as 10 , Il~th di«luietingqu.uityofmodcrn- created "for the GOl.1eriil de Ia Rna's 1975 collective calendar." II Frid,).'s
d(:Jllonstnung e -..,. . . imilge, like that of d Che, Erniliano Zap.tla, and Ricardo Flores Mag6n,
for its own en d s. th us . lherness for constituting
riating or redeeming 0 ' U represented the connection that Chicano artists saw between lhe politics
ism'. its laste for approp
..' theaiiint't'.< I"",
,hown at MOMA are a
of eI Movimiento and the Iibcntion struggles of Latin America; but Frida
non-Western artS In Its own Imogc, ' ' . .,
, t " (emphasis added). . also became an icon for the marginalized members ofla Causa (Le" Chi-
on moderrus terms . ' d R " ThlOugh Frida~ Eyts. HIS ex~
, h h' 'dea In 1010 to ",ya cana artists). Interestingly, however, only one of the Frida pieces in the
Let us return Wil t IS I . be d m' at least [\vo ways: (1) it em-
, 'd 'nPrt......n-we can rea hi "Cultural Icons" section is done by a woman, Yrcina Cerv;intez's Hommaje
.ggerated IOSl ers t'--l'~-- iii" between himse.lf and Ka 0
d m illators or a ruues a Frida Kchla (see Figure 21, described ilnd mOl.1yzed in the Open House
Phasizescommon eno Chicano . dM' .nart and (1) it accentuates
an CXIC , chapter). In fact, Cervantez is the only Chicana utist represented in the
I
as artists and or tweenbe . ' the bce of these affinities;
" r h b" ect for the arust m section. Why such a conspiCUOUS lack of gender representation in this
the "otherness 0 t e su I. r mas . carll, more than a face, a mils'k
it is, in other words, ,). mascara, o. b'ectivity. Indeed, whu R.i.yil very significant room of the exhibit? Could it be that. as Alvina Quintana
,_c R n express hIS own SU I .. believes, "Chicano cultural productions moved closer to legitimacy by
through whKu aya COl I " tl,.t identify who he IS,
, " e those e ernen.., developing ideological systems which represented predominilnl.1y mas-
sees "through Fridas eyes at that identify ROlYil's own
"F 'd ". vision serve as props . culine interpretations of history and culmref'1l Were the five images of
the objectS 0 r rl a s . d El Che Lenin, and Diego
. artist of MCXlcan escent. , Kilhlo used to represcnt the femille gender, thus masking the Olbsence of
gendcred reilhty as an as well as the nationalist, socialist, and pop-
Rivera-lhe men themselves . .u (1 use the word pur- Crucana subjectivity for representuional presence? How was Frida Kahlo
. h ood for-were semm "used" hy the ctlrillorial agenda of the exhibit (for it is cUrOlting, finally,
ulist philosophies t ey st .' d Its cultural extension, the
l' f c1 Movlmlento an thilt informs the work of lhe selection process)? What did Kahlo's image
posely) to the evo uuon 0 . t"n not only Frida's eyes, but aha
Chicano Art Movement. By appropna I g. h with his own, Mar- olTer to the overall vision of the exhibit thilt it had once olTered to Chicana
"u' d t"stic views and mergmg. tboth
Frida's pohuu.J an :If I
em "
"Other and mlffor
. artists?
cos ROlya em claim for himself ~ idrentit ~;;rd says above, create Fridl.
y Cleuly the Sc.Ieetion Committee saw in Frida Kallio dle very embodi-
, ceo he ca.n m act, ilS . al ment of resistance and affirmation, the two underlying motifs of the ex-
to his own cxpenen, ,: h can usc the phySIC con-
, J
Kahlo "in (hIS own I . '
'mage Moreover. e
lionalist idea thilt a womms to e
, I hibil. Through prolific artistic representations of her body, Ka.hlo resisted
straints of Frida's life to relOforce the na c . the belly signifies-mort giving in to the physical and emotional pain thu constantly threatened to
. ate-as the letUS 10 engulf her and transfonned this pain into disturbing portraits of m op~
in the revolution IS to procre
sons for loliKho./ d • Committee's "aW:lfene~ of gen- pressed and yet creative spirit. In the process, she affirmed her identity
What does this say ilbout lhe ~~~on I both process and product?" 11 u an artist and a survivor of physical pain, emotional strife, and political
f the exlllbtuon, n ~ struggle, as well as her claim to a fulfilling life. As Claudia Scb;aefer says,
der issues in all aspects 0 . . 'n the "Cultur.u Icons
R
d ilyas ' palOtmg oc<:urs I "the painted 'Frida' sulTers, lherefore she is; and Nch time [Kallio] con-
As .urcady mentione, .---If interpretive exhibitiOP
'b' because CARA ulls IU'OJ an the jures up another portrOlit of this pOlin she reaffirms that identity_" H
room of lhe e ,\h1 It; . A Movement it follows that
f the ChICano rt ' ._ In Kahlo, ChiCilna artists such as Yreim Cervantez, Gradela Carrillo,
ofthe first twenty years 0 r h ' os that symbolized thestrUgg lO
. . displayo t elCO . h !Whara Carrasco, Carmen Lomas Garu, and Amalia Mesa-Bains found a
cultural icons secUo n IS a Th e are fourteen pieces III t e
6 8 model of their own struggles within Anglo racism md Chicano patriar-
of el MoviIniento from 19 5 to 19 5. F<'d K hlo' the other culturll
. h .uludeto na a • chy, for as Sybil Venegas said in '977, and as Goldman ilnd Ybarra-Frausto
section, five of Which s ow or f, . es) the mestiw head (tw,)
icons depicted are Emiliano Zapau. ( our plec ,
Oul of the HlII8(
CARA~ Polilics of Rrpleo;cnldlioo
echoed in 1990, eI Mevimicnto WoIS deeply sexist. "TIIC ChiCoine Movc- dally .~ituoll('(1 reul' I I
ment souglllto end oppression-discrimination, racism, and povcrty- ' cr I lilt c Clef/nines its polilk-s "" R ' .
words, delermincs llle;lIling' 'nd . .. ('(;{'pllon, III olher
and Chicanas supported that goal unequivocaUy; lbe IlKWCmcnl did 001, how- . ' reception as we shall .
Simple malter. The interpretation of a Ch' ' / ' soon see, IS no
~r, propose basic changes in molt-female rdalians or the slotus of women" (emphasis tishizes Frida Kahlo the I leano Lallno g<l.y man who fe-
added)/' That the National Selection Committee privileged Frida IU.hlo way tlat some white g'y , 'I'
Monroe would I L _ men letls llZC Marilyn
, warrant ut: substant"a.!l d'ffi
as a "Cultural Icon" of el Movimiento is commendable (if not altogether canol lesbian who C'Ulnot 6'"d I If I Y I erent from thaI of a Chi-
accurate) and consistent with CARA's practice of honoring its Mexican lerse anywhere' th xl 'b'
lhe mirrOr of Judy Baca's r__ T ' In e e 11 It except in
predecessors in the political art world; but the commiuee also privileged LU1 res Monas and who k
one of lhe expliCit obJ'ectives ofth h'b' , ,moreover, nows that
the male rendilions of Kahlo rather than giVing the space to those Chicana .. e ex I ltJon Wol.~ to en .
senSitivity 10 lhe politics ofg d d sure a conSCiOUS
artists who saw Frida. as an icon of their own struggles and liberation en er iUl yet finds that Ch'
what their sexual identity_ " Icanas-no matter
through art. Kahlo's appropriation as a cultural icon by the privileged B '. were ma..rgmahzed once <l.gain.
members of the Chicano Art Movement speaks to the perpetuation ofsex- y J~~laposlOg fe~inisl and nationalist agendas, gay male and I b'
perspectIVes, the men s rooms and the w . ' es Ian
ist male-female relations that give men the right to take whal they wanl vided CARA', ". 'd '1" Omens Closet, I have further dl-
mSI er outsider" Ie' ,
away from women and, as Marcos Ray<l.'s painting demonstrates, to use POSilion Operates dS <l.n oU'~'d I:" dnll~. The Malmche or feminist
....1 er to ule OmlniUlt cod. f Ch'
that which women have claimed to serve their own gendered vision. the COntext of the exhibil. In "Encodin ' " es 0 Icanismo,
Perhaps, though, we can effect a subversive or at least a more refresh- dominant codes arc those meanings tlta~'a~~ln~ Stuart Hall says lhat
ing reading of the piece that mayor may nOl exculpate the Selection Com- by the producers of Ihal event 71 Alth assl,gn to a text or an event
mittee. What if we find another affinity projected in Ibe image of a mile and the WolY tholt m.....r'g.. ' od ough Hall IS talking olbout television
.............. are enc ed thrall h d d
artist in a wom<l.n's mask, assuming that womm's vision and, by extension, vised program by i'~ g olll ecoded from a tcle-
.... creators and consumers h' tit .
subjectiVity? What if, by shrinking Rivera, Lenin, and Che and magnify- Slruelion of mearung" h II . ,IS eones about the can·
,a.>wes a seemtheflU . I
ing the presence of Frida Kahlo, the piece invites a radical interpretation Other forms of cullural production. 0 oWlllg c lolpter, apply to
of sexual politics? One reviewer who found RolYol'S piece "stwming ...
. Thus, lhe dominant codes of the CARA exhibi .
Its.organizcrs, which, deolrly, have not been fram~ar~ those ol~~gn~ by
skilled, imaginative, and as sophisticated as any representative of the con-
lempoury European arl movements" patently assumed the sex-change polnl. Placing myself on t h . yol femmlst VICW_
suggested in the imolge; "What she sees ranges from oln ape to heroes of e margins ofdlicanismo I h fi
oppositional reading oflhe exhibit by "detotaliZ[in '] ~ve ~r or~ed an
the Mexican revolution," 7. The,she in question is, first, the artist who has preferred [or dominant] cod' d g e message III the
donned the mask of Frida's vision. but also the viewer who is positioned em or er 10 relotalize the m '.L.
SOme alternative fr<l.mework of rere "/!t eSSdge Wh.ulD
by the piece not as an observer but <l.S a surrogate for the artist. She can coded lhe exhibit? How CAR rencc~ How have others read or de-
ollso represent the Selection Committee. Thus, artist, viewer, and curator WdS A receIVed n t" 'd b '
of over 300,000 viewers?IO a lonWI e y Its audience
become Frida Kahlo, olSSume a subjectivity that is not their own and that
is, moreover, located in ol female body, in;l. woman's politics oflcealion,
The piece is, indeed, open to ol trmsgendered interpretation,
Was Marcos Raya in fact establishing this olber affinity between himself
and Kahlo or, as I said above, simply projecting his own vision and iden-
tity onto the canvas by appropriating Kahlo's iconogn.phy? Perhaps the
answer to this question is less important than the fact that the ambiguil),
offers the nonheterosexual viewer the opportunity to make her/hiS own
subversive interpretation of lhe piece based on her/his own politics of
identity and inclinations. As John Fiske believes, "a reading. like ol text,
cannot of itself be essentially resistdlll or conformist; it is its use by a so-