CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Women's Artivism Across Cultures and Borders: Los Angeles and Oaxaca a Thesis Submitte
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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Women’s Artivism Across Cultures and Borders: Los Angeles and Oaxaca A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts in Chicano and Chicana Studies By Martha Emma Martinez May 2018 The thesis of Martha Emma Martinez is approved: _____________________________________________ _______________ Mary Pardo, Ph.D. Date _____________________________________________ _______________ Lara Medina, Ph.D. Date _____________________________________________ _______________ Yreina D. Cervántez, MFA, Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii DEDICATION I dedicate this Creative Works Thesis Project to the women of Detalle de Mujer, Hormigas Bordadoras, and Mujeres de Maiz who took the time out of their busy lives to tell me about their involvement in their collectives. This project honors the hard work of the following artists: Leticia Hernández-Díaz, Margarita Carmen Gonzalez- Hernandez, Silvia Guadalupe Gonzalez-Hernandez, Jaquelina Hernández-Díaz, Lorena Mendoza- Arellanes, Marietta Bernstorff, Jennifer Grijalva-Martinez, Juana Martinez-Olivera, Rebeca Martinez-Santos, Leonila Aragon-Grijalva, and Liliana Escobar-Garcia, Margaret “Quica” Alarcon and Maritza Alvarez. I am grateful to have a group of powerful women that through their visual art, depict their stories and the stories of their communities. I am thankful that they opened their hearts and space for me to learn about their beginning, struggles, and their continued work to create a world that is a better place for future generations. This project is for the women like Leticia that have dedicated and invested so much time to make their vision possible. For women like Leticia who think about themselves and those around them. This book is also for women like Rebecca who depict stories or migration that resonate with the stories of my parents who also crossed the US- Mexico border. For Xicanas like Margaret “Quica” Alarcon, who live in the United States and create powerful art that documents a Xicana and indigenous history. It is an honor and privilege to document the powerful Chicana and Mexicana visual artists’ stories. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Creative Works Thesis Project has been a lengthy journey in which many people have supported me especially through the difficult times. Despite the difficult times that in retrospective are minute, I truly appreciate the people who especially guided me through this project. I am very thankful to professor, mentor, and chair of this project, Yreina D. Cervantez. She was there to listen to my frustration and keep me centered and focused on my goal. She not only read my work, gave me constructive criticism, provided guidance through frustrating paperwork processes, but also guided me through the creation of my artwork. I am also thankful for committee members, Lara Medina and Mary Pardo for taking time to read my work and for their constructive criticism. Also, thank you to all the supportive faculty and staff in the Chicana and Chicano Studies department who believed in me. Thank you for uplifting this Chicana. I would also like to thank my family for their support through my academic experience in higher education. I thank my mother and father, Emma Martinez and Rafael Martinez for supporting me in the long process through the educational pipeline. I would like to thank my brother, Rafael Martinez, for being present in research engagements where my parents could not be present. I would also like to thank my sister, Laura Martinez, who made me endless cups of coffee while I spent late nights writing at the dinner table. In addition, I would like to thank Luis Salinas, Martha Bueno, George Grunauer, Stacey Leal, Kathryn Gilbey and Alex Nava who at some point in this process read my work, studied with me, and traveled with me for the purpose of getting this project completed. iv Table of Contents Signature Page .................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv List of Images ................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ............................................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1: An Introduction to Women’s Artivism Across Cultures and Borders: Los Angeles and Oaxaca ............................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Chicana Art, Chicana Art Aesthetic and Vocabulary, and Chicana Artivism ......................................................................................................... 9 Emergence of Chicana Art .................................................................................... 13 Chicana Art Aesthetic and Vocabulary ................................................................. 16 Chicana Artivism .................................................................................................. 23 Chapter 3: Demographics, Methodology, Methods, and Theoretical Framework .............................................................................................. 32 Demographics ....................................................................................................... 32 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 34 Methods................................................................................................................. 35 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................... 40 Chapter 4: Oaxaqueña and Chicana Artivism ................................................................... 41 Detalle de Mujer: Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico ......................................... 42 Life Stories of Founder and Member ........................................................ 42 Organization of Their Work ...................................................................... 47 Ethnic/Racial and Gender Identity or Oppression and Access to Resources ........................................................................... 49 Hormigas Bordadoras: San Francisco de Tanivet, Oaxaca, Mexico .................... 59 Life Stories of Founder and Member ........................................................ 60 Organization of Their Work ...................................................................... 62 Ethnic/Racial and Gender Identity or Oppresion and Access to Resources ........................................................................... 63 v Mujeres de Maiz: East Los Angeles, California, United States ............................ 67 Life Stories of Founder and Member ........................................................ 68 Organization of Their Work ...................................................................... 71 Ethnic/Racial and Gender Identity or Oppression and Access to Resources ........................................................................... 73 Chapter 5: My Creative Inspiration .................................................................................. 78 Chapter 6: Artivism Across Cultures and Borders ........................................................... 89 References ......................................................................................................................... 93 Appendix A- Study Protocol & Questions ........................................................................ 98 Appendix B- Transcribed Study Interviews ................................................................... 108 vi List of Images Figure 1.0: Hormigas Bordadoras Tanivet and Oaxaca (2015). 49 Figure 2.0: Detalle de Mujer de Oaxaca (2015). 63 Figure 3.0: Mujeres de Maiz (2017). 73 Figure 4.0: Mujeres de Maiz Intergenerational Mural (2009). 76 Figure 5.0: Liliana from Hormigas Bordadoras (2018). 79 Figure 6.0: Leticia la creadora de sus sueños (2018). 80 Figure 7.0: Hormiga (2017). 81 Figure 8.0: Hormigas Bordadoras (2017). 82 Figure 9.0: Lorena de DM de Oaxaca (2017). 83 Figure 10.0: Maritza (2018). 84 Figure 11.0: Margaret (2018). 85 Figure 12.0: De San Francisco de Tanivet a Los Angeles (2018). 86 Figure 13.0: Detalle de Mujer de Oaxaca (2018). 87 vii ABSTRACT WOMEN’S ARTIVISM ACROSS CULTURES AND BORDERS: LOS ANGELES AND OAXACA By Martha E. Martinez Master of Arts in Chicano and Chicana Studies This project documents the artwork created by three contemporary women art collectives including: Mujeres de Maiz (MdM)/ Women of the Corn based in East Los Angeles, California, United States of America; Hormigas Bordadoras (HB)/ Embroidery Ants from San Francisco de Tanivet, Oaxaca, Mexico; and Detalle de Mujer de Oaxaca (DM)/ Women’s Detail of Oaxaca based in Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico. To contextualize this project, I discuss Chicana art, Chicana art aesthetic, the vocabulary utilized to discuss Chicana art to provide an understanding of Chicana art. Then, I discuss Chicana art collectives and Chicanas and artivism to highlight Chicana art and its organic relationship to activism. I utilize artivism to discuss Chicana and Mexicana art. I argue that