“Chicana Art and Scholarship on the Interstices of Our Disciplines”, Guisela Latorres: The Chicana art movement tackled issues ignored by the political movement, such as gender, colonialism, and sexuality
“Silencing Our Lady: La Respuesta de Alma”, Alma Lopez: Our Lady stood as visual imagery provoking discussion about the gender relations, art, and religion of Chicana/o culture

Blog:
In class last week, we engaged in a skype conversation with Professor Leigh Raiford on her extensive work and our class material. At one point in the conversation, when she addressed the Black Civil Rights movement, she mentioned that “We don’t need another male leader like Malcolm or Martin; but an inclusive space for the diverse African diaspora.” I interpreted this to mean that the existing male leaders and patriarchal views are not necessary for the progress of the political movement. What is necessary is the acknowledgment of diverse identities within the movement. I found that her idea can also be applied to the Chicana/o movement that we are exploring this week. In the article “Chicana Art and Scholarship on the Interstices of Our Disciplines,” Guisela Latorres acknowledges that the Chicano/a political movement promoted nationalism, el movimento, and addressed issues of race and class within the ethnic group; but it ignored the topics of gender and sexuality within the community. Chicana artists, such as Alma Lopez, Juana Alicia, and Irene Perez, use their work to address these silenced subjects head on and provoke discussions on such controversial topics. These artistic female leaders mark a certain relationship between political movements and their corresponding artistic movements. Often the political movements, like Raiford tries to explain, take on a patriarchal perspective, addressing the shared marginalization of the group but ignoring the internal marginalization of women and other identities. This approach acknowledges the common identity of the ethnic group, rather than acknowledging the diversity of identities within the movement. Artistic movements, such as the Chicana art movement, tackle difficult subject matters which the patriarchal perspective of the political movement overlooks. In such a way, artistic movements supplement the progress of the corresponding political movement as a reaction to its ignorance. The irony of this situation is too hard to ignore as political movements attempt to address the ignorance of others yet ignorance can still exist in a political movement. Not all hope is lost as long as political movements take their dose of corresponding artistic movements, prescribed by Dr. Hinds.