Why are we afraid of this Virgen in San Antonio, Texas?

In San Antonio, this rendering of La Virgen de Guadalupe by the artist Anna-Marie Lopez was censured - though these days we don't use that word -there's too much terrorism in it - at the Centro Cultural Aztlan, a Kool-Folk Chicana/o institution on the fast-track to mainstream inclusion in this town.

I admire Centro Cultural and all the people connected with it - but - we need this Virgen. Look at her:
She's naked, a serpent wraps her body, she's behind barbed-wire, and her jewelry is a ruby-red human heart. It seems to me that she's a woman of the times, evoking an imprisoned, marginalized, suffering, loving, woman, whose power is seen but not realized.

"They missed the point," says Lopez, who barely gets by on her disability paychecks, and who created this piece after much research especially for the Guadalupana exhibit. "At this time, people are scared of us," she said, referring to the post-9/11 world and subsequent immigrant-bashing. "I'm very proud I did it. I'm gay, I'm Sephardic...if nobody ever buys a painting again, so be it."

Credit: "Virgen," by Anna-Marie Lopez 2006

Comments

Anonymous said…

and shouldn't we all know that the serpent is the earth. the earth wrapped around the virgen, in her arms. ana marie's work is cutting . . .and cutting edge . . .right into the reality of women still being shunned, fenced, controlled but still being love. i invited anna to the guadalupe show and feel she should have been in the show. people know her work and will gain a larger respect for her becuase art, intentionally, speaks the truth-like hers. -anel i. flores

7:35 PM

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Today is Tuesday, May 3rd, and so much has happened. A brain tumor. More yoga and walking. A little less combat. Weight dropping. Spirit rising. Back in the city, where I belong. Looking for good photos to give you, organizing my crazy files. And a new President! So much to say, more than beating up on him -- that will only take us so far. Time to hit the streets, challenge the fears that he represents. Don't be afraid, no tengan miedo. If I survived a massive brain tumor -- big as a grapefruit -- we can survive and transcend this. More tomorrow. One day a week from now on.

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