Chica Chic: The New Wave of Chicana Art

ChicaChic: The New Wave of Chicana Art // Interview with Curator Raquel De Anda from New America Media on Vimeo.

ChicaChic, an art exhibit showcasing the work of five prominent Chicana visual artists is open through March 18, 2011 at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).

"ChicaChic includes images that honor the concepts, themes, and iconography of the Chicano civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s but reflect a world that is drastically changed,” says Deirdre Visser, arts curator at CIIS. “These women were raised in a different era, and ask different questions” added Visser.

The works in the show include a large canvas by Ana Teresa Fernandez depicting a woman “washing” the beach at the U.S.-Mexican border with her hair; a striking image that demands both that we engage with the current debates over immigration, and the politics of women and labor.

In addition to Fernandez, ChicaChic features the work of Angelica Muro, Mitsy Ávila Ovalles, Favianna Rodriguez, and Shizu Saldamando. The work of these five artists varies greatly, but they all are responding visually to the shifting needs of their communities in novel ways. The exhibit is guest-curated by Raquel de Anda, formerly of Galería de la Raza in San Francisco.

“ChicaChic is about stepping beyond the boundaries of identity, challenging stereotypes about what it means to be Chicana,” says de Anda. “It’s about the fluidity of identity and the need for new kinds of images in a fast-paced, media-saturated society.”

The exhibit is the culmination of years of planning. As Dorotea Reyna, CIIS Director of Development describes it, “ChicaChic is also a way to represent who we are at CIIS. With a ethnically diverse student body, CIIS feels that ChicaChic is an ideal exhibition to highlight our diversity, expand our arts programming, and further project our voice into Bay Area Latino communities.”

An intergenerational panel will discuss the art exhibit on Saturday, March 12, at 6:00PM at the CIIS Minna Street Center. For more information about the event or CIIS programs, visitwww.ciis.edu.

-30-