"This piece is a tribute to queer Latinos, but most importantly, butch and masculine queer Latinas. Having been inspired by the work of Alma Lopez and Juan Jose Barboza-Gubo, I took an important Chicana feminist figure, La Virgen de Guadalupe, and designed a crochet vest using important motifs in her iconography. The goals of this project were to pay an homage to the many feminist writers and artists who have reclaimed La Virgen de Guadalupe as a Chicana feminist icon, and to participate in this movement by contributing queer art as a queer artist." "I love artist’s renditions of this important icon, but I had yet to see one that represented masculine women. There are strong women, working women, free and liberated women in these works of art, yet they are encapsulated in their respective art piece. By bringing the iconography to a wearable medium, La Guadalupana becomes a fluid figure and a protector as it goes anywhere and everywhere. This piece is also fluid because it accepts the wearer as they are, however they may present. For this project in particular, I chose to add an embroidered huipil-style shirt from Mexico that was given to me by my mother. So for now, the vest accepts me as the wearer for who I am, and however I present right now. I also made a choice at the end to add two chains of yarn to represent scars, specifically those left behind after double mastectomies, or ‘top’ surgery. This surgery, in the context of gender affirming care, removes the breast tissue to flatten the chest for the patient. Machismo preys on the female body and holds expectations of how women should look, so I included this to create conversation about all of the Mexican and Chicana women who express themselves outside of the constructs of machismo." "This piece represents not only the Latino community I wanted to highlight for the sake of the project, but it also represents me, my mother, and so many others. If La Guadalupana is the patron of Chicanas, then she must be for all Chicanas. I want to continue this work of highlighting queerness in Latino communities through fashion, fashion is one of the most accessible ways someone can express their true selves." |