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Kayleigh Perekov

WLDARTM128

12/4/08

The Face of Motherhood in Chicana Art

Much has been written about the static nature of Chicana identity in the past.

Choices have been limited and heavily informed by male sensibilities; as Gloria

Anzaldua discusses in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, "dominant

paradigms; predefined concepts that exist as unquestionable, unchallengeable, are

transmitted to us through culture ... [c]ulture is made by those in power ---- men".'

Unsurprisingly, what was "transmitted" served to keep the traditional gender hierarchy

stable, and Chicanas were left with limited models on how to live their lives. These

models are familiar to most women; one could turn "to the church as a nun, to the streets

as a prostitute, or to the horne as mother" _2 This paper aims to examine this third option-

the state of motherhood-as it relates to the binding and the liberation of Chicana culture.

While the dominant Chicano paradigm created an image of motherhood that was sanitary

and domestic, Mexican history and mythology offer much more diverse examples of

motherhood:

La gente Chicana tiene tres madres. All three are mediators: Guadalupe, the virgin mother who has naf-

abandoned us, La Chingada (Malinche), the raped mother

I Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza 16. 2 G. Anzaldua, J 7.

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whom we have abandoned, and La Lorona, the mother who

seeks her children and is a combination of the other two.' .

With such a disparity between social propriety and cultural iconography, it is

unsurprising that there is such a large amount of contemporary imagery focusing on

maternity in Chicana art. By examining pertinent works by Barbara Carrasco and

Yolanda Lopez, a complex relationship appears. Motherhood emerges not merely as a

biological state, but instead is seen alternatively as a form of social control and a link to

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history and a greater spirituality.

Barbara Carrasco was raised in a housing project in the Mar Vista district of Los

Angeles." A third generation Mexican-American, Carrasco's upbringing was marked by

strict Catholicism and repressive gender roles.' While still at a young age, Carrasco

discovered her love of art. Her father exposed her to the murals of Diego Rivera and her mother taught art projects to the local Girl Scout group." Carrasco's lithograph Pregnant

Woman in a Ball of Yarn (Figure 1), deals with the issue of motherhood as a form of

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social controL According to Carrasco this piece was sparked by personal experience, her

brother was a chauvinist who treated his wife badly and did not allow her to go to

college." Through her art this personal experience was mediated into a broader statement

about the status of women. The piece depicts a naked pregnant woman bound to a ball of

yarn, her eyes and mouth covered by strands of yam. The mass of the ball forces her to

3 G. Anzaldua, 30.

4 Paul Von Blum, Other Visions, Other Voices 85. 5 P. Von Blum, 85.

60ral history interview with Barbara Carrasco, 1999 April 13-26, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

7 Oral history interview with Barbara Carrasco, 1999 April 13-26, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

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her knees; her arms are restrained and her head is forced to the side. From the yam, a

baby bootie is formed and a lone knitting needle lying nearby alluding to the act of

creation. According to Carrasco, the piece "portrays an oppressed pregnant woman

trapped by the fear of fighting her oppressors". 8 Thus, by Carrasco's own reading, it is

the pregnant woman who is holding the keys to her own jail cell. While it, may have been

society that planted fear of action, it is her own choice to let her fear rule her. A statement

of Carrasco's reinforces this interpretation, "women themselves need to break away from

these barriers. They just need to be convinced that they have the power to do that. So I'm

not just saying they're exterior barriers, but there's a lot of internal barriers". 9 It is with

this understanding that Pregnant Woman in a Ball of Yarn can be seen as a self fulfilling .. ,y' ~y..x.r ~S '1

prophecy, one in which the belief of irreconcilable captivity becomes the cage of ~ ~ ~

/'!IV'"'

containment.

The imagery of Pregnant Woman in a Ball a/Yarn is rich enough that it offers

readings that go beyond the artist's intent. It has been commented upon that Pregnant

Woman in a Ball of Yarn can be seen as a critique of the forced sterilization of minority

women. 10 The fact of contemporary sterilization is generally overlooked in mainstream

society. However, writers such as Frances Beale has explored the ways sterilization was forced on minority women in order to ensure their continued welfare benefits. II The

image confronts the viewer, giving voice to an unspeakable act and forcing

8 Angie Chabram Dernersesian," Out of the House, the Halo, and the Whore's Mask: The Mirror of Malinchismo" 6.

9 Oral history interview with Barbara Carrasco, 1999 April 13-26, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

10 Oral history interview with Barbara Carrasco, 1999 April 13-26, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

II Frances Beale "Double Jeopardy", 151.

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contemplation. The act of forced sterilization can be seen as a horrific manifestation of

the devaluing of entire groups of people, "perhaps the most outlandish act of oppression

in modern times is the current campaign to promote sterilization of nonwhite women in

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an attempt to maintain the population and power imbalance between the white haves and

the nonwhite have nots". 12 Ultimately, this reading is one of political protest, creating an

image for a cause to rally behind. Another interpretation focuses on inherent

shortcomings of biological determinism, in this case the action of reducing a woman to

her biological functions:

Mujeres [women] were valued, mainly, for their biological

contributions to the struggle: they could provide

nourishment, comfort, and sexual release for the men and

future revolutionaries workers for la Causa. Mujeres were

seen, in fact, as the carriers of the culture, and their own

revolutionary role was circumscribed by their productive

function. 13

The shapes in the image invoke gender; the rounded ball of yam is echoed in the

women's protruding breasts and belly, and the singular knitting needle used to pierce the

yarn, suggesting male penetration. While the male sex is alluded to, a male figure is

absent from the piece. Conversely, a female figure is not only present, but is also trapped

within the symbol of her sex, the ball of yarn. Thus, the female, unlike the absent male, is

defined by her sex. Contained by her ability to create future generations, she is unable to

12 F Beale, 151.

13 A. Chabram Demersesian, 5.

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aIter her state, blinded, gagged and bound. The baby bootie that is created from the ball

of yam serves as an important visual reminder; the only creative and productive action a

woman can make is tied to reproduction. Ultimately, Carrasco's piece can be seen as a

cautionary tale warning women of the dangers associated with maternity and a cry for

greater self-examination.

Yolanda Lopez was born in 1942 and raised in San Diego, California. Her parents

divorced and the family lived with her maternal grandparents. After high school

graduation she moved to San Francisco and became a community artist. Lopez later

received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, San Diego." Lopez's

digital print Nuestra Madre, 2002 (Figure 2) uses the issue of motherhood in a very

different way then Carrasco; her vision of maternity is ties to ancestry and spirituality.

Lopez's image is ofa statue of the Pre-Colombian goddess, Coatlicue (meaning Snakes-

Her-Skirt in Nahuatal) with attributes of the Virgin of Guadalupe, standing on a crescent

moon, draped in a starry clock and surrounded by a golden halo. Near the top of the piece

is a flowing scroll, with the words Nuestra Madre written on it. This piece proposes a

"new mother" figure by blending the iconography of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the

Pre-Christian goddess Coatlicue.

To understand Coatlicue's importance as a mother figure, it is essential to

understand her mythology. In the Florentine Codex, Sahagun relates the story of

14 "Questions and Answers About Yolanda Lopez",

http://mati.eas .asu. edu: 84 21/ChicanArte/html pages/YLopezlssOuti. html#artmaker, accessed Novemeber 24, 2008

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Coatlicue. 15 In the myth, Coatlicue was performing the penance of sweeping, during

which a ball of down feathers fell from the sky. Coatlicue took the ball of down and

placed it within the waistband of her skirt, causing Coatlicue to become pregnant with the

god Huitzilopochtli, (meaning Hummingbird-Left in Nahuatal). Huitzilopochtli was one

of the most powerful deities in the Aztec pantheon. As his mother and sole parent due to

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his parthenogenic birth, Coatlicue would have been held in high esteem in Pre-

Colombian society. Recent scholarship suggests that Coatlicue was not only seen as the

mother of Huitzilopochtli, but also as the mother of the universe, sacrificing herself in

order to create the sun." Artist Frida Kahlo used the image of Coatlicue to create a

positive maternal image. Her My Nurse and J (Figure 3) depicts Kahlo being breast fed

by a nursemaid with the face of Coatlicue. Chicana theorist Gloria Anzaldua also views

Coatlicue as a being that provides her with purpose. The presence of Coatlicue allows her

to create an organic identity without the confines of social strata:

I see the heat of anger or rebellion or hope split open that

rock, releasing la Coatlicue. And someone in me takes .

matters into our own hands, and eventually, takes

dominion over serpents - over my own body, my sexual

activity, my soul, my mind, my weaknesses and strengths.

Mine. Ours. Not the heterosexual white man's or the

colored man's or the state's or the culture's or the

15 Bernardino de Sahagun, "First Chapter, in which is told how the gods had their beginning," in Book 3 of The Florentine Codex Bk. 3, trans. Arthur A.lO. Anderson & Charles E. Dibble. 2d. rev.ed. (Santa Fe: School of American Research 1978) 1-5.

16 C. F. Klein, "A New Interpretation of the Aztec Statue Called Coatlicue," Snakes-HerSkirt"," Ethnohistory 55, no. 2 (2008) 22~.

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religion's or the parent's- just ours, mine. 17

For Anzaldua, Coatlicue represents not biological birth but rebirth, where social

limitations are irrelevant and new beginnings are possible. For some Lopez's blending of

the Pre-Colombian Coatlicue with the Catholic Virgin of Guadalupe may be seen as an

act of sacrilege. However, by blending the two religious figures Lopez is not devaluing

either, but is instead creating a modern icon, "far from being sacrilegious, Lopez's work

is profoundly respectful. It acknowledges the importance of religion in Chicano

communities while demonstrating that what is sacred need not be sacrosanct" .18

The Virgin of Guadalupe is a figure that has long been a source of inspiration and well

being,

La Cultura Chicana identifies with the mother (Indian)

rather than with the father (Spanish). Our faith is rooted in

indigenous attributes, images, symbols, magic and myth.

Because Guadalupe took upon herself the psychological

and physical devastation of the conquered and oppressed

indio, she is our spiritual political and psychological

symbol. As a symbol of hope and faith, she sustains and

. . I 19

msures our survlva .

The blending of these two figures not only represents a blending of characteristics, this

piece can also be seen as a reference to the belief that the popularity of Vi rig in of

Guadalupe stems from her relation to the Pre-Colombian goddess, "Coatlicue was 'Our

17 G. Anzaldua, 48.

18 Lee Stacy Mexico and the United States, 158 19 G. Anzaldua, 30.

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Mother' and after contact with the Spanish became known as 'Our Lady of

Guadalupe't'r" By alluding to the co-option of the Pre-Colombian by the Spanish, Lopez

emphasizes the strength and legacy that Chicanas have to draw from. Ultimately, Nuestra

Madre can be seen as a vision of motherhood that looks beyond the drudgery of everyday / and towards tradition and modernity to form a greater spiritual vision.

Lopez's Nuestra Madre and Carrasco's Pregnant Woman in a Ball of Yarn are not

isolated depictions of motherhood within the Chicana art movement. They reflect a larger

preoccupation with maternity, "motherhood, regeneration, and female ancestry

constituted what could be called a Chicana aesthetic'v" Chicana art depicts maternity as

malleable thing. It can be a source of greater spirituality as in Lopez's Nuestra Madre or

in Ester Hernandez's Mis Madres (Figure 4). Maternity can also be something used to

control and assign value to Chicanas, as shown in Carrasco's Pregnant Woman in a Ball

of Yarn and in Juana Alicia's Xochiquetzal. It is in this dichotomy that we can see the

traditional reality of being a Chicana and the idealist role models that have helped create

a more equitable future.

20 L. Stacy,177.

21 A. Chabram Dernersesian, 8.

Figure 1

Barbara Carrasco Pregnant Woman in a Ball a/Yarn

Figure 2 Yolanda Lopez Nuestra Madre

Figure ; Frida Kahlo My Nurse and I

Figure 5 Ester Hernandez Mis Madres

1. Do you have a thesis and then develop it? (10 points) L 0

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2. Do you effectively compare artworks (or artists)? (10 points) 10

3. Do you cite readings, especially from the assigned essays? (10 /0 points)

4. Do you demonstrate that you understand key words and concepts /0 from the lectures, discussions and readings as they apply to your

topic? (10 points) ,

5. How well do you articulate your argument? (10 points) I 0