CHIC3216W: Chicana and Chicano Art

A Chicana/o has been described as a Mexican-American with a political sense of identity that emerges from a desire for social justice. One journalist bluntly stated, \"A Chicano is a Mexican-American with a non-Anglo image of himself\" (Ruben Salazar, Los Angeles Times, 1970). This identity emerged through the Chicano Movement, a social and political mobilization that began in the 1960s and 1970s. The Chicano Movement witnessed the rise of community-based political organizing to improve the working conditions, education, housing opportunities, health, and civil rights for Mexican-Americans. For its inception, the Chicano Movement attracted artists who created a new aesthetic and framework for producing art. A major focus of Chicana/o artists of the 1960s and 1970s was representation, the right to self-determination, and the role of art in fostering civic and public engagement. This focus continues to inform Chicana/o cultural production. Social intervention, empowerment, and institutional critique remain some of the most important innovations of American art of the last several decades, and Chicana/o artists played a significant role in this trend.

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