Yo soy Joaquín,
perdido en un mundo de confusión:
I am Joaquín, lost in a world of confusion,
caught up in the whirl of a gringo society,
confused by the rules, scorned by attitudes,
suppressed by manipulation, and destroyed by modern society.
My fathers have lost the economic battle
and won the struggle of cultural survival.
And now! I must choose between the paradox of
victory of the spirit, despite physical hunger,
or to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis,
sterilization of the soul and a full stomach.
[…]
La raza!
Mejicano!
Español!
Latino!
Chicano!
Or whatever I call myself,
I look the same
I feel the same
I cry
And
Sing the same.
Those words by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, definitely human in their strength, their tearing, their contentiousness, lastingly founded and coloured what became the Chicano Movement in the United States.
In 2014 the Musée d’Aquitaine was the venue of an exhibition called “Chicano Dream” and so gave us the opportunity to catch a glimpse of a significant component of the American cultural complexity, mostly thanks to collector Cheech Marin’s loan.
In an informal interview at the Musée d’Aquitaine, John Valadez sheds light on the Chicano condition: “When I was born and raised, we were punished for speaking Spanish. I’m like the fourth generation American. I’m an American. But I’m also Mexican. I’m also Latino. And so the thing about being Chicano was to take on, to be positive about that.”
The voices of the Chicanos, the way they have of imparting all their inner lives, nature and strength onto a simple canvas, demand recognition and respect for a hybrid identity.
The issue borne by the Chicano movement is twofold. On the one hand, Mexican-Americans can be regarded as intruders or aliens although they have sometimes been settled in the United States for generations. On the other hand, Mexican-Americans may be considered as no longer Mexican to the extent that they have partly but significantly embraced the American culture.
Chicano artists were initially mural fresco painters; nonetheless, little by little, they diversified their works and explored other approaches. In spite of its mutations, Chicano art still represents everyday life in its most prosaic features.
The aim is not to paint still-lives. On the contrary the very idea is to capture a specific moment in time and show the specific features of the Mexican-American community in terms of a dynamic and true daily life.
This urban Mexican-American muralism reveals the tight links and the mutual influence between Mexican-Americans and the towns they live in.
A large part of Patssi Valdez’s oeuvre bears the sign of the psychological trauma she experienced at the age of seven. Her personal background is prominent especially in her Little Girl with Yellow Dress.
The flaming and garish outline of her body enhances this distinction between the purity and innocence of a young girl and her surroundings.
The fact that she grew up in East Los Angeles in the 1950s indisputably moulded both her character and her view of the American society. As a Chicano artist, she seems to be at the very confluence of two cultures: an American and a Mexican.
Patssi Valdez’s work is not confined to the artistic expression of the way any Mexican-American experiences the reaction of the American society to his or her various roots and cultural belongings.
Yes, she has been deeply committed to the Chicano movement since her teenage years and she is one of the founding members of ASCO, an artist collective based in LA, but even more, she is a Chicana. Her work associates racial and gender identity struggles. Bruce Novoa‘s observation that “a Chicano lives in the space between the hyphen in Mexican-American…” takes on a double meaning.
Though it can simply be seen as pure feminism, it appears that the Chicana movement can also be understood as the result of the accumulation of relations of inferiority. Both the American and the Mexican societies have witnessed the growing significance of feminism. Consequently — and as a Chicana Patssi Valdez is fully aware of it — painting is a field of action to delve into for those who carry what should not be seen as a burden: cultural duality and being a woman.
hippos & bells 