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{{Short description|Mexican-American painter and activist (1942–2021)}}
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{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix =
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| name = Yolanda M. López
| name = Yolanda López
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| image = Yolanda_M._López_died_2021.jpeg
| image = <!-- just the pagename, without the File:/Image: prefix or [[brackets]] -->
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| native_name =
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| birth_name = <!--only use if different from name-->
| birth_name = <!--only use if different from name-->
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1942}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1942|11|01}}
| birth_place =
| birth_place = [[San Diego]], [[California]], U.S.
| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|09|03|1942|11|01}}
| death_place =
| death_place = [[San Francisco]], California, U.S.
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| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| education = [[San Diego State University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br/>[[University of California, San Diego]] ([[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]])
| nationality = American
| alma_mater =
| education = [[San Diego State University]], <br/> [[University of California, San Diego]] (UCSD)
| known_for = Painting, prints
| alma_mater =
| notable_works = Reinterpretations of the Virgen de Guadalupe image, political poster "Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?"
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| style =
| movement = Bay Area [[Chicano art movement]]
| style =
| spouse =
| movement = Bay Area Chicano Art Movement
| awards = {{awards|[[Ford Foundation]] and [[Mellon Foundation]] grant|2021|Latinx Artist Fellowship}}
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| children = [[Rio Yañez]]
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}}
}}
'''Yolanda Margarita López''' (November 1, 1942 – September 3, 2021) was an American [[Painting|painter]], [[printmaker]], [[educator]], and [[film producer]]. She was known for her [[Chicana feminism|Chicana feminist]] works focusing on the experiences of [[Mexican Americans|Mexican-American]] women, often challenging the [[Stereotype|ethnic stereotypes]] associated with them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davalos |first=Karen Mary |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/236143155 |title=Yolanda M. López |date=2008 |publisher=UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press |others=Los Angeles. Chicano Studies Research Center University of California |isbn=978-0-89551-103-4 |location=Los Angeles |oclc=236143155}}</ref> Lopez was recognized for her series of paintings which re-imagined the image of the [[Virgen de Guadalupe]].<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|last=Daly|first=Clara-Sophia|date=September 3, 2021|title=Yolanda López, artist who painted the iconic Virgen de Guadalupe series, dies at 79|url=http://missionlocal.org/2021/09/yolanda-lopez-artist-who-painted-the-iconic-virgen-de-guadalupe-series-dies-at-79/|access-date=September 4, 2021|website=[[Mission Local]]|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite web|last=Vega|first=Priscella|date=September 5, 2021|title=Yolanda López, Chicana artist known for la Virgen de Guadalupe series, dies at 79|url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-09-05/yolanda-lopez-artist-dead|access-date=September 8, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> Her work is held in several public collections including the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]], the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], and the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]].
'''Yolanda M. López''' (born 1942) is an American [[Painting|painter]], [[printmaker]], educator, and [[film producer]] living in [[San Francisco]], California. She is known for her work that focuses on the experience of [[Mexican American]] women and often challenges [[ethnic stereotypes]] associated with them.


==Early life and education==
==Biography==
Yolanda López was born in 1942 in San Diego, California and she is a third-generation [[Chicano|Chicana]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = Shaping San Francisco|url = http://shapingsf.org/special/unsettlers/campfire2.php|website = Shaping SF|accessdate = 2015-04-21|date = 2014}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> While her grandparents were migrating from Mexico to the United States, they experienced crossing the [[Rio Grande|Río Bravo river]] in a boat and avoiding shots fired from the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Mirkin|first=Dina Comisarenco|date=April 1, 2010|title=Yolanda M. López (Book Review)|journal=Woman's Art Journal|volume=31|issue=1|pages=57–59|jstor=40605247}}</ref> López and her two younger siblings were raised by her mother and her maternal grandparents in [[San Diego, California]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth Century America|last = Ruiz|first = Vicki L.|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 1998|isbn = 978-0-19-513099-7|location = New York City|pages = |url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/fromoutofshadows0000ruiz}}</ref>
Yolanda Margarita López was born on November 1, 1942, in [[San Diego]], California,<ref name=":15">{{Cite news|last=Finkel|first=Jori|date=2021-09-18|title=Yolanda López, Artist Who Celebrated Working-Class Women, Dies at 78|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/18/arts/yolanda-lopez-dead.html|access-date=2021-09-19|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> to Margaret Franco and Mortimer López.<ref name=":7" /> She was a third-generation [[Chicano|Chicana]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = Shaping San Francisco|url = http://shapingsf.org/special/unsettlers/campfire2.php|website = Shaping SF|access-date = April 21, 2015|date = 2014}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Her grandparents migrated from Mexico to the United States, crossing the [[Rio Grande|Río Bravo river]] in a boat while avoiding gunfire from the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Mirkin|first=Dina Comisarenco|date=April 1, 2010|title=Yolanda M. López (Book Review)|journal=Woman's Art Journal|volume=31|issue=1|pages=57–59|jstor=40605247}}</ref> López and her two younger siblings were raised by her mother and [[maternal]] [[grandparent]]s in [[San Diego]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth Century America|last = Ruiz|first = Vicki L.|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 1998|isbn = 978-0-19-513099-7|location = New York City|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/fromoutofshadows0000ruiz}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref>


After graduating from high school in [[Logan Heights, San Diego|Logan Heights]] in San Diego, she moved to [[San Francisco]] and attended [[San Francisco State University]] (SFSU).<ref name=":2" /> She became involved in the student movement called the [[Third World Liberation Front]],<ref name=":2" /> that shut down SFSU in a 1968 strike called the "[[Third World Liberation Front strikes of 1968|Third World Liberation Front Strikes]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11649871/new-documentary-looks-back-at-sf-state-strike-on-50th-anniversary|title=New Documentary Looks Back At S.F. State Strike on 50th Anniversary|date=2018-02-15|website=KQED|language=en-us|access-date=2019-06-10}}</ref> She also became active in the arts.<ref name=":0"/> During this time period, López became aware of her position within the community as she is quoted saying,"I did not become aware of our own history until 1968 when there was a call for a strike at San Francisco State, a strike for ethnic studies. I heard the men and women that led that Third World Strike speak and I understood at that point what my position was being part of this long legacy of being part of the oppressed people, just like Black people." In 1969, Lopez was instrumental in advertising the case of Los Siete De Le Rasa, seven young Latin American youths accused of killing a police officer. She designed the poster "Free Los Siete," which juxtaposed the jailed Latin Americans with the ideals of America. This poster, as part of Lopez's efforts on the Los Siete Defense Committee, helped garner much community support, and win their eventual acquittal.
After graduating from high school in [[Logan Heights, San Diego|Logan Heights]] in San Diego, she moved to [[San Francisco]] and took courses at the [[College of Marin]]<ref name=":7" /> and [[San Francisco State University]].<ref name=":2" /> She became involved in a student movement called the [[Third World Liberation Front]],<ref name=":2" /> which shut down SFSU as a part of the [[Third World Liberation Front strikes of 1968]]<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Grossberg|first1=Adam|last2=Muñoz|first2=JoeBill|date=February 15, 2018|title=New Documentary Looks Back At S.F. State Strike on 50th Anniversary|url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11649871/new-documentary-looks-back-at-sf-state-strike-on-50th-anniversary|access-date=June 10, 2019|website=KQED|language=en-us}}</ref> She also became active in the arts.<ref name=":0"/>


In 1969, López was instrumental in advertising the case of [[Los Siete de la Raza]], in which seven young Latin American youths were accused of killing a police officer. Serving as the groups artistic director, she designed the poster "Free Los Siete," where the faces of these men are shown behind an inverted [[American flag]] that appears like prison bars.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|last=Durón|first=Maximilíano|date=September 8, 2021|title=Yolanda López, Pioneering Chicana Artist Who Reclaimed the Virgen de Guadalupe, Is Dead at 79|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/yolanda-lopez-artist-dead-1234603270/|access-date=September 9, 2021|website=ARTnews|language=en-US}}</ref> This poster was featured in the exhibition "¡Printing the Revolution!" at the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]], where curator [[Evelyn Carmen Ramos]] noted it had been "circulated at rallies and in newspapers, and galvanized the [[Mission District]]'s Chicano and Latino community into a powerful social force with a noticeable presence in subsequent city politics."<ref name=":11" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Rosen|first=Miss|date=September 27, 2017|title=Groundbreaking Latin artists who aren't Frida Kahlo|url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/37525/1/radical-women-latin-american-art-1960-1985-latin-artists-who-aren-t-frida-kahlo|access-date=September 5, 2021|website=Dazed|language=en}}</ref>
During the 1970s, López returned to San Diego. She enrolled at [[San Diego State University]] in 1971, graduating in 1975 with a [[Bachelor's degree|B.A.]] in painting and drawing. She enrolled at the [[University of California, San Diego]] (UCSD), receiving a [[Master of Fine Arts]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Frock|first1=Christian|title=Mission artist Yolanda López puts eviction on display|url=https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Mission-artist-Yolanda-L-pez-puts-eviction-on-5576680.php|website=www.sfgate.com|publisher=SFGate}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=LaDuke|first1=Betty|title=Women Artists Multi-Cultural Visions|date=1992|publisher=The Red Sea Press, Inc.|location=New Jersey|isbn=978-0-932415-78-3|pages=103–112}}</ref> While at the [[University of California, San Diego]], her professors [[Allan Sekula]] and [[Martha Rosler]] encouraged her to focus on conceptual practice with social, political, and educational impact.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Radical women : Latin American art, 1960-1985|others=Contributions by Rodrigo Alonso [and 13 others]|publisher=Hammer Museum, University of California|isbn=9783791356808|location=Los Angeles|oclc=982089637|last1 = Fajardo-Hill|first1 = Cecilia|last2=Giunta|first2=Andrea|year=2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Yolanda López |url=https://hammer.ucla.edu/radical-women/artists/yolanda-lopez/ |website=Hammer Museum}}</ref>


During the 1970s, López returned to San Diego, and enrolled at [[San Diego State University]] in 1971, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in painting and drawing. She then enrolled at the [[University of California, San Diego]], receiving a [[Master of Fine Arts]] in 1979.<ref name=":4">{{cite news |last1=Frock |first1=Christian L. |title=Mission artist Yolanda López puts eviction on display |url=https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Mission-artist-Yolanda-L-pez-puts-eviction-on-5576680.php |work=SFGATE |date=June 24, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=LaDuke|first1=Betty|title=Women Artists Multi-Cultural Visions|date=1992|publisher=The Red Sea Press, Inc.|location=New Jersey|isbn=978-0-932415-78-3|pages=103–112}}</ref> While at the [[University of California, San Diego]], her professors [[Allan Sekula]] and [[Martha Rosler]] encouraged her to focus on conceptual practice with social, political, and educational impact.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Radical women : Latin American art, 1960–1985|others=Contributions by Rodrigo Alonso [and 13 others]|publisher=Hammer Museum, University of California |isbn=9783791356808 |location=Los Angeles|oclc=982089637|last1 = Fajardo-Hill|first1 = Cecilia|last2=Giunta|first2=Andrea|year=2017}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{cite web|last=Parkos Arnall|first=January|title=Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985: Yolanda López|url=https://hammer.ucla.edu/radical-women/artists/yolanda-lopez/|access-date=September 8, 2021|website=Hammer Museum}}</ref>
In 1978, Lopez and conceptual artist [[René Yañez]] moved to San Francisco's Mission District and in 1980 she gave birth to Río Yañez.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Davalos, Karen Mary (2008). Yolanda López. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press. {{ISBN|9780895511102}}.</ref> A few years later López moved into the apartment next door and maintained a professional relationship with Yañez.<ref name=":0" /> After 40 years of living in her home, in 2014, she and her family faced eviction through the [[Ellis Act]]. In response, she created a series of "eviction garage sales" to comment on issues of gentrification and cultural heritage in San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Mission-artist-Yolanda-L-pez-puts-eviction-on-5576680.php#photo-6500136|title=Mission artist Yolanda López puts eviction on display|work=SFGate|access-date=2018-03-09}}</ref> According to the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press (2009), "López’s artwork aims to offer new possibilities for Chicanas and women of color living under conditions of patriarchy, racism, and material inequality."<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title=TEACHER'S GUIDE FOR YOLANDA M. LÓPEZ: A Ver: Revisioning Art History, Volume 2.|last=Alvarez|first=Veronica and Theresa Soto, with excerpts from Karen Mary Davalos|publisher=UCLA CHICANO STUDIES RESEARCH CENTER PRESS, Regents of the University of California|year=2009|isbn=|location=University of California|pages=}}</ref> Her contributions to the Chicana society and feminism were significant.


==Work==
==Career==
López obtained international celebrity for her iconic ''[[Virgen de Guadalupe]]'' series of drawings, prints, collage, assemblage, and paintings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://almalopez.com/projects/ChicanasLatinas/lopezyolanda3.html|title=Yolanda Lopez|website=almalopez.com|access-date=2019-06-10}}</ref> The series, which depicted "ordinary" Mexican women (including her grandmother, her mother and López herself) with Guadalupan attributes (such as the [[mandorla]]), attracted praise for "sanctifying" average Mexican women, who were depicted performing domestic and other labor.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=Yolanda M. López|last=Davalos, Karen Mary, 1964-|date=2008|publisher=UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press|others=University of California, Los Angeles. Chicano Studies Research Center.|isbn=9780895511034|location=Los Angeles|oclc=236143155}}</ref> The 1978 triptych oil pastel drawings depict herself and her family members as reimagined Virgin de Guadalupe figures, wherein López depicts herself clutching a snake while stepping on an angel, a symbol of the patriarchy.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte|last=Jackson|first=Carlos Francisco|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2009|isbn=9780816526475|location=Tucson|pages=117}}</ref>
López is recognized for her iconic series that reinterpreted the ''[[Virgen de Guadalupe]]'' through [[drawing]]s, [[Printmaking|prints]], [[collage]], and [[painting]]s.<ref name=":13" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Yolanda López: Portrait of the Artist|url=https://www.mcasd.org/exhibitions/yolanda-l%C3%B3pez-portrait-artist|access-date=September 10, 2021|website=Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego|language=en}}</ref> The series, which depicted Mexican women (among them her grandmother, her mother, and López herself) with the [[mandorla]] and other Guadalupean attributes, attracted attention for sanctifying average Mexican women shown performing domestic and other forms of labor.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |title=Yolanda M. López |last=Davalos |first=Karen Mary |date=2008|publisher=UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press |isbn=9780895511034 |location=Los Angeles|oclc=236143155}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> In her 1978 triptych of oil pastel drawings, López depicted herself clutching a snake while stepping on an angel, a symbol of the patriarchy.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte|last=Jackson|first=Carlos Francisco|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2009|isbn=9780816526475|location=Tucson|page=117}}</ref>


López created another set of prints with a similar theme entitled ''Woman's Work is Never Done''. One of the artworks for the set, ''The Nanny'', addressed problems faced by [[immigrant]] women of [[Hispanic]] descent in the United States and was featured at the [[Institute of Contemporary Art San José]].<ref name=":1" />
The ''Virgen De Guadalupe'' series depicted from the range of domestic womanhood to Chicana womanhood, to intersectionality. The series also reveals the close bond in López's family and demonstrates the cycle of life as a whole. Different paintings in the series give completely different feelings according to the message she wanted to bring to the viewers. She touched on the role of women in generations, with respect to the society's expectations on them. In terms of Chicana womanhood, the series emphasized traditional cultural values, advocated new perceptions of gender and cultural identity. López further integrated Intersectionality with the series by embedding the overlapping of roles in the series regarding gender difference and cultural stereotypes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Women and Art |url=https://www.womenartists.info/yolanda-lopez |website=Women Artists}}</ref>


Her famous political poster titled ''Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?'' features a man in an [[Toltec]] headdress<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Carlos Francisco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XfaMxFIyo0C&pg=PA97 |title=Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte |date=2009-02-14 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-2647-5 |language=en}}</ref> and traditional jewelry holding a crumpled-up paper titled "Immigration Plans."<ref name=":14">{{Cite web|title=2010.54.6640 Yolanda M. Lopez artist: Who's The Illegal Alien Pilgrim?|url=http://collections.museumca.org/?q=collection-item/2010546640|access-date=September 10, 2021|website=The Oakland Museum of California: Collections}}</ref> The layout recalls the [[Uncle Sam Wants You]] posters from World War I.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last=Ramos |first=E. Carmen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OdPXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |title=¡Printing the Revolution!: The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now |date=December 2020 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-21080-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baugh |first1=Scott L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsypCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |title=Born of Resistance: Cara a Cara Encounters with Chicana/o Visual Culture |last2=Sorell |first2=Victor A. |date=2015-12-03 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-3222-3 |language=en}}</ref> This 1978 poster<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lopez|first=Yolanda M. (Yolanda Margaret), 1942-|title=Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?|url=https://jstor.org/stable/community.13902645}}</ref> was created during a period of political debate in the U.S. which resulted in the passage of the [[Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments|Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1978]], which limited immigration from a single country to 20,000 people per year with a total cap of 290,000.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Immigration Statistics: A Story of Neglect|url = http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=593&page=20|website = books.nap.edu|access-date = April 22, 2015|page = 20|date = 1985| doi=10.17226/593 | isbn=978-0-309-03589-7 }}</ref> The poster suggests that the ancestors of white Americans were themselves unwelcome immigrants.<ref name=":16" /> It also invokes the Aztec legend of [[Aztlán]], which involved claims that the people indigenous to [[central Mexico]] had immigration rights to the traditional homelands of the Native Americans who were indigenous to the [[Southwestern United States]].<ref name=":16" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aldama |first=Frederick Luis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQg9DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 |title=The Routledge Companion to Latina/o Popular Culture |date=2016-05-26 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-26820-8 |language=en}}</ref>
''Woman's Work is Never Done'' is another set of prints. One of the series prints collection, one of which, "The Nanny", attempted to study some problems faced by immigrant women of [[Hispanic]] descent in the United States. The work was featured at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.<ref name=":1" />


López also curated exhibitions, including ''Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb2j49p00c/|title=Calisphere: Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams: Media Myths and Mexicans Exhibition|website=Calisphere|year=1988 |language=en|access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref> which featured works of art concerning [[immigration to the United States]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Born of resistance : cara a cara encounters with Chicana/o visual culture|date=2015|publisher=The University of Arizona Press|last1=Sorell |first1=V. A. |last2=Baugh |first2=Scott L. |isbn=9780816532223|location=Tucson|oclc=927446609}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> The exhibition debuted at the [[Galería de la Raza]] and subsequently toured nationwide as part of an exhibition called ''La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience''.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last1=Chávez|first1=Patricio|url=https://icaa.mfah.org/s/en/item/809400#?c=&m=&s=&cv=13&xywh=-108%2C0%2C1965%2C1099|title=La Frontera = The border : art about the Mexico/United States border experience|last2=Grynsztejn|first2=Madeleine|last3=Kanjo|first3=Kathryn|date=1993|publisher=Centro Cultural de la Raza|isbn=0934418411|location=San Diego, CA|pages=36|oclc=28916725}}</ref>
Her famous political poster titled ''Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?'' features an angry young man in an [[Aztec]] headdress and traditional jewelry holding a crumpled-up paper titled "Immigration Plans." This 1978 poster was created during a period of political debate in the U.S. which resulted in the passage of the [https://www.congress.gov/bill/95th-congress/senate-bill/2784 Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1978], which limited immigration from a single country to 20,000 people per year with a total cap of 290,000.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Immigration Statistics: A Story of Neglect|url = http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=593&page=20|website = books.nap.edu|accessdate = 2015-04-22|page = 20|date = 1985}}</ref>


López produced two films: ''Images of Mexicans in the Media'' and ''When you Think of Mexico'', which challenged the way the [[mass media]] depicts Mexicans and other [[Latin America]]ns.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Latinas in the United States : a historical encyclopedia|date=2006|publisher=Indiana University Press|last1=Ruíz |first1=Vicki |last2=Sánchez Korrol |first2=Virginia |isbn=0253111692 |location=Bloomington|oclc=74671044}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hurtado|first=Aída|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ti7PDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|title=Intersectional Chicana Feminisms: Sitios y Lenguas|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2020|isbn=9780816537617|pages=103–104}}</ref>
López has also curated exhibitions, including "Cactus Hearts/Barb Wired Dreams,"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb2j49p00c/|title=Calisphere: Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams: Media Myths and Mexicans Exhibition|website=Calisphere|language=en|access-date=2019-06-10}}</ref> which featured works of art concerning [[immigration to the United States]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Born of resistance : cara a cara encounters with Chicana/o visual culture|date=2015|publisher=The University of Arizona Press|others=Sorell, V. A. (Victor A.),, Baugh, Scott L.|isbn=9780816532223|location=Tucson|oclc=927446609}}</ref> The exhibition debuted at the [[Galería de la Raza]] and subsequently toured nationwide as part of an exhibition called "La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience."<ref>{{Cite book|title=La Frontera = The border : art about the Mexico/United States border experience|date=1993|publisher=Centro Cultural de la Raza|others=Chávez, Patricio., Grynsztejn, Madeleine., Kanjo, Kathryn., Centro Cultural de la Raza (San Diego, Calif.), Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego.|isbn=0934418411|location=San Diego|oclc=28916725}}</ref>


She served as Director of Education at the [[Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts]] in San Francisco, and taught at [[University of California, Berkeley]],<ref name=":11" /> University of California San Diego,<ref name=":3" /> [[Mills College]], and [[Stanford University]].<ref name=":1" />
López has produced two films, ''Images of Mexicans in the Media'' and ''When you Think of Mexico'', which challenge the way the [[mass media]] depicts Mexicans and other [[Latin America]]ns.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Latinas in the United States : a historical encyclopedia|date=2006|publisher=Indiana University Press|others=Ruíz, Vicki., Sánchez Korrol, Virginia.|isbn=0253111692|location=Bloomington|oclc=74671044}}</ref>


López stated, "It is important for us to be visually literate; it is a survival skill. The media is what passes for culture in contemporary U.S. society, and it is extremely powerful. It is crucial that we systematically explore the cultural mis-definition of Mexicans and Latin Americans that is presented in the media."<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/cema/lopez_y|title=Yolanda Lopez|date=August 19, 2011|work=UCSB Library|access-date=March 9, 2018|language=en}}</ref>
She served as director of education at the [https://missionculturalcenter.org/ Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts] in San Francisco, and has taught at [[University of California, Berkeley]], [[Mills College]], and [[Stanford University]].<ref name=":1" />


She was awarded a $50,000 fellowship from [[Andrew W. Mellon Foundation|The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation]] and the [[Ford Foundation]] as part of their [[Latinx]] Artist Fellowship in 2021.<ref name=":7" /> A retrospective exhibition of Lopez work was scheduled to be held at the [[Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego]] in October 2021.<ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Langer|first=Emily|date=September 7, 2021|title=Yolanda López, artist who elevated Latina life, dies at 78|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/yolanda-lopez-dead/2021/09/07/8a5babc6-0feb-11ec-bc8a-8d9a5b534194_story.html|access-date=September 8, 2021}}</ref>
According to López, "It is important for us to be visually literate; it is a survival skill. The media is what passes for culture in contemporary U.S. society, and it is extremely powerful. It is crucial that we systematically explore the cultural mis-definition of Mexicans and Latin Americans that is presented in the media."<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/cema/lopez_y|title=Yolanda Lopez|date=2011-08-19|work=UCSB Library|access-date=2018-03-09|language=en}}</ref>

Artwork created by Lopez is in the collection of the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]].<ref name=":9" /> Her artwork is held in the public collections of several museums including the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lopez, Yolanda|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/yolanda_lopez/|access-date=September 8, 2021|website=SFMOMA|language=en-US}}</ref> the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Yolanda M. López {{!}} LACMA Collections|url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/156908|access-date=September 8, 2021|website=collections.lacma.org}}</ref> the [[Ulrich Museum|Ulrich Museum of Art]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Women's Work is Never Done - Ulrich Museum of Art|url=https://ulrich.wichita.edu/ulrich_art_item/yolanda-lopez-womens-work-is-never-done/|access-date=September 8, 2021|language=en-US}}</ref> the [[De Young Museum]], and the [[Oakland Museum of California]].<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":14" />


== Selected artwork ==
== Selected artwork ==


===''The Guadalupe series''===
=== ''Things I never told my son about being a Mexican'' ===
Beginning in 1978 and ending in 1988, López created a series of images that reinterpreted the ''Virgen de Guadalupe.'' López earned recognition for the sieries which depicted people close to her as the Virgen de Guadalupe and reinvigorated the image into different forms. The artwork drew attention with the new, albeit controversial, depictions of the [[Our Lady of Guadalupe|Virgen de Guadalupe]].<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ponce |first1=Mary Helen |title=Celebrating Guadalupe, Sacred Icon of the People |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-12-me-43176-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 12, 1999 }}</ref> However, starting a controversy was not López's intention. In "American Women: Great lives from History", author [[Mary K. Trigg]] writes, "López's formal education and burgeoning feminism contributed to her growing interest in the politics of representation, resulting in work that progressively examined the social and cultural invisibility of women".<ref name=jstor3178436/> López wanted to depict the Virgen de Guadalupe in numerous ways in order to give women, specifically those originating from Chicana culture, new forms of representation along with López's own comments on society. As Guisela M. Latorre argues, "[i]mages such as [[Ester Hernandez]]'s 1976 etching ''Libertad'' depicting a young Chicana resculpting the Statue of Liberty to resemble a Maya carving, and Yolanda López's pastel drawings (1978) that depicted herself, her mother, and her grandmother in the role of the Virgin of Guadalupe were examples of early Chicana art that placed women at the center of discourses on liberation and decolonization".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Latorre |first1=Guisela M. |title=Chicana Art and Scholarship on the Interstices of Our Disciplines |journal=Chicana/Latina Studies |date=2007 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=10–21 |jstor=23014498 }}</ref>
''Things I never told my Son about being a Mexican'' was a featured at piece in Yolanda López's exhibition "Cactus Hearts/Barb Wired Dreams" in 1988.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb2n39p0kt/|title=Calisphere: Things I Never Told My Son About Being A Mexican|website=Calisphere|language=en|access-date=2019-06-06}}</ref> ''Things I never told my Son about being a Mexican'' touches on identity, assimilation, and cultural change.<ref>{{cite web|title=Feminist Artist: Yolanda López|website=Butterfly|url=https://bluemariposafap.wordpress.com/feminist-artist/|access-date=2019-09-04}}</ref> The piece consists of different three-dimensional items attached to a large yellow backdrop with a zigzag patterned border on the top and a barbed wire patterned border on the bottom. The bottom text reads: “''THINGS I NEVER TOLD MY SON ABOUT BEING A MEXICAN''.” Items in the work vary from cactus cutouts, to children's clothing, to pictures. The work's message ranges from embracing one's culture to addressing the oppression and discrimination faced in America, as the two borders can represent the literal borders between the United States and Mexico.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Markovitz|first=Jonathan|date=1994|title=Blurring the Lines: Art on The Border|journal=Postmodern Culture|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|doi=10.1353/pmc.1994.0063|issn=1053-1920}}</ref> It can also be connected to López's “culture shock” experience after going to college, where she realized that she knew nothing about her own Mexican heritage or cultural history.<ref name=":4">Laduke, Betty. “Yolanda López: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes.” Feminist Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, Spring 1994, p. 117. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2307/3178436.</ref> ''Things I never told my Son about being a Mexican'' is also another one of López's art pieces that emphasizes the breaking away of the typical Chicana/o art style. ''Things I never told my son about being a Mexican'' addresses her son, Río Yañez, who was only nine years old at the time. In terms of relevance to the Chicana/o art scene this piece stands towards the end of the current peak of the movement. The typical Chincana/o art style normally consists of bright colorful paintings or murals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.widewalls.ch/what-is-chicano-art|title=What is the Vibrant Chicano Art All About ?|website=Widewalls|access-date=2019-06-06}}</ref> The typical color scheme of Chicana/o art is also vibrant eye catching. ''Things I never told my Son about being a Mexican'' does not use a large amount of colors at all and can be considered simplistic. The ability to attach multiple pictures, cut outs and children's clothes is something that any person can do. What makes the piece unique is the message, arrangement, and the bright background color. The breaking away of typical Chicana/o art style does not take away from the intention of the piece.


====''The Virgen de Guadalupe''====
The traditional Mexican children's clothing possibly represent the innocence she held before her “culture shock” in college. In terms of flow with positive and negative space, the artwork most definitely moves vertically from the top to the bottom from a positive space to a negative space, starting with a playful red zigzag pattern that stands out and ending with a grey barbed wire pattern that is seemingly hidden in comparison to the sharpness of the red. The piece almost depicts the unawareness of López's own culture and possibly serves as a warning or lesson for her son, warning him not to let American culture drown out their heritage and cultural history. The work is textured and three dimensional, as it is a mixed media collage, rather than a painting. The children's clothes stick out and protrude from the warm yellow background wall, even the barbed wire is brought to life as a result of the angles of the barbed edges' being drawn from an aerial perspective. As Karen Mary Davalos argues, "López intentionally selected these objects for their mundane or everyday quality so that she could support her argument about the ubiquitous nature of stereotypical images. The images of sleeping Mexicans, smiling señoritas, and dancing fruits and vegetables are made absurd through unexpected placement, juxtaposition, and repetition. Her work interrogates images of Mexicans and Chicanos, and it challenges not only the context in which fine art is displayed but also the assumptions about who should be invited into such elite spaces."<ref name=":5" />
[[File:Lady_of_Guadalupe.jpg|thumb|a traditional depiction of the ''Virgen de Guadalupe'']]
[[File:Yolanda Lopez.jpg|thumb|Yolanda López, Portrait of the Artist as the Virgen of Guadalupe, 1978, from the Guadalupe series.<ref name=":8" />]]
López sought to depict the Virgen de Guadalupe in multiple ways due to the religious figures symbolic meaning. It is one of the most recognizable religious figures in the world and one of the most important figures to the people of Mexico. She is a symbol of love, faith, and identity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywnwny/how-la-virgen-de-guadalupe-become-an-icon|title=How La Virgen de Guadalupe Became an Icon|last1=Cooper|first1=Wilbert L.|last2=Larkin|first2=Ximena N.|date=December 12, 2017|website=Vice|language=en-US|access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref> However, not all the symbolism could be perceived as purely positive; the Virgen de Guadalupe also symbolizes motherhood, [[virginity]], and femininity, which López felt the need to not only address but also critique in her work. In "Yolanda López: Breaking Chicana stereotypes", [[Betty LaDuke|Betty Laduke]] observes that López stated: "I feel living, breathing women also deserve the respect and love lavished on Guadalupe... It is a call to look at women, hardworking, enduring and mundane, as the heroines of our daily routine... We privately agonize and sometimes publicly speak out on the representation of us in the majority culture. But what about the portrayal of ourselves in our own culture? Who are our heroes, our role models?... It is dangerous for us to wait around for the dominant culture to define and validate what role models we should have."<ref name=jstor3178436/>


Traditional images of the Virgen de Guadalupe stress religious symbolic meaning<ref>{{Cite book|title=Full of grace : encountering Mary in faith, art, and life|last=Dupré |first=Judith |date=2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=9780679643661|edition= 1st|location=New York|oclc=698459090}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> primarily maternity, reinforcing gender roles.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Jeanette Favrot |title=The Virgin of Guadalupe: Symbol of Conquest or Liberation? |journal=Art Journal |date=1992 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=39–47 |doi=10.2307/777283 |jstor=777283 }}</ref> López redesigned a powerful cultural icon in order to shift the observer's point of view by providing an alternative interpretation.<ref name="jstor3178436" /> López expressed that in images of the original Virgin, she is "bound by the excess cloth around her legs that makes her immobile".<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=https://joannagarciasite.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/radical-love-yolanda-lopez-reimagining-la-virgen-de-guadalupe/|title=Radical Love: Yolanda López Reimagining la Virgen de Guadalupe|date=November 27, 2016|website=Joanna Garcia|language=en|access-date=June 6, 2019}}</ref>
===''The Guadalupe Series''===
Beginning in 1978 and ending in 1988, Yolanda López's ''Virgen de Guadalupe'' series gained López a majority of recognition by depicting not only people close to her as the Virgen de Guadalupe, but also by reimagining the image in different forms. This drew in the public eye with these new albeit controversial depictions of the [[Our Lady of Guadalupe|Virgen de Guadalupe]].<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-12-me-43176-story.html|title=Celebrating Guadalupe, Sacred Icon of the People|date=1999-12-12|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-06-10|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> However, starting a controversy was not López's intention. In “American Women: Great lives from History,” Mary K. Trigg offers a perspective into the lives of American women spanning from colonial time up to the present day, and discusses their work in politics, civil rights, literature, education, journalism, science, business, and sports. In a section on Yolanda López, Trigg writes, “López's formal education and burgeoning feminism contributed to her growing interest in the politics of representation, resulting in work that progressively examined the social and cultural invisibility of women.”<ref name=":4" /> López wanted to depict the Virgen de Guadalupe in numerous ways, to give women, specifically those originating from Chicana culture, new forms of representation along with López's own comments on society. As Guisela M. Latorre argues, "[i]mages such as [[Ester Hernandez|Ester Hernández’s]] 1976 etching ''Libertad'' depicting a young Chicana resculpting the Statue of Liberty to resemble a Maya carving, and Yolanda López’s pastel drawings (1978) that depicted herself, her mother, and her grandmother in the role of the Virgin of Guadalupe were examples of early Chicana art that placed women at the center of discourses on liberation and decolonization."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Latorre|first=Guisela M.|date=Spring 2007|title=Chicana Art and Scholarship on the Interstices of Our Discipline|url=http://www.thisbridgecalledcyberspace.net/FILES/51.pdf|journal=Chicana/Latina Studies|volume=6:2|pages=0–21|via=}}</ref>
[[File:Lady_of_Guadalupe.jpg|thumb|''Virgen de Guadalupe'']]


The ''Artist as the Virgen of Guadalupe'' painting shows López herself running out of the picture frame, smiling with her running shoes as if competing in a race, wearing Mary's shawl as a cape, and jumping over the red, white, and blue angel, showing pride in her culture, and finally holding a snake to demonstrate the strength she holds. López explained this imagery, saying "[s]he holds the Guadalupe cloak like a cape at the end of a race and jumps over the angel with red, white, and blue wings a symbol of the United States capitalism".<ref name=":8" /> In "Yolanda López: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes" Laduke explains, "López not only commands her body but seems to predict her role as an artist who is not afraid of encountering social and political issues or using her skills to promote social change".<ref name=jstor3178436/> López is not afraid to challenge society or to change what has been falsely represented in Mexican culture, through images of the Virgin Mary, and through images projecting how young women and mothers should look or behave a certain way. Through her art, López challenged her culture. As Karen Mary Davalos, a scholar of [[Chicana/o studies|Chicano studies]], asserts, "López consistently confronts predominant modes of Latino and Latina representations, proposing new models of gender, racial, and cultural identity".<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last1=Alvarez|first1=Veronica|title=Teacher's Guide for Yolanda M. Lopez: A Ver: Revisioning Art History, Volume 2.|last2=Soto|first2=Theresa|publisher=UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press, Regents of the University of California|others=Excerpts from Karen Mary Davalos|year=2009|location=University of California}}</ref> Regarding her intended viewer, López stated "Over the years as I have created my art, I have tried to address an audience, a Chicano audience, specifically a California Chicano audience".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Latinas in the United States : A Historical Encyclopedia|last1=Ruíz|first1=Vicki|last2=Sánchez Korrol|first2=Virginia|date=2006|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253346803|series=Gale Virtual Reference Library|location=Bloomington|language=en}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref>
====''The Virgen De Guadalupe''====
To better understand why López wanted to depict the Virgen de Guadalupe in multiple ways one must understand what the religious figure stood for. The Virgen de Guadalupe is one of the most recognizable religious figures in the world and one of the most important figures to the people of Mexico. She is a symbol of love, faith, and identity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywnwny/how-la-virgen-de-guadalupe-become-an-icon|title=How La Virgen de Guadalupe Became an Icon|last=Cooper|first=Wilbert L.|last2=Larkin|first2=Ximena N.|date=2017-12-12|website=Vice|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-10}}</ref> However, not all the symbolism could be perceived as purely positive; the Virgen de Guadalupe also symbolizes motherhood, virginity, and femininity, which López felt the need to not only address but also critique in her work. In “Yolanda López: Breaking Chicana stereotypes," Betty Laduke goes into more detail about López's true goal for her ''Virgen de Guadalupe'' series.<ref name=":4" /> Laduke quotes López saying: “I feel living, breathing women also deserve the respect and love lavished on Guadalupe . . . It is a call to look at women, hardworking, enduring and mundane, as the heroines of our daily routine . . . We privately agonize and sometimes publicly speak out on the representation of us in the majority culture. But what about the portrayal of ourselves in our own culture? Who are our heroes, our role models? . . . It is dangerous for us to wait around for the dominant culture to define and validate what role models we should have.”<ref name=":4" /> López aims to not only praise women through her Virgen de Guadalupe but to offer young women a role model with a familiar face.


López's ''Nuestra Madre'' (1981–88, acrylic and oil paint on masonite), a portrait in the ''Virgin of Guadalupe'' series, shows a stone figure as the portrait of an ancient goddess. During the 16th-century, the Virgin of Guadalupe was seen as connected to the goddess [[Tonantzin]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harrington |first1=Patricia |title=Mother of Death, Mother of Rebirth: The Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |date=1988 |volume=LVI |issue=1 |pages=25–50 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/LVI.1.25 |jstor=1464830 }}</ref> an ancient Aztec goddess the Mexican people worshiped in [[Tepeyac]] prior to the Spanish colonization of Mexico. Tonantzin was disguised so the Spaniards would retain her as a religious image acceptable to their imported religion of [[Roman Catholicism]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Transforming borders : Chicana/o popular culture and pedagogy|last=Elenes |first=C. Alejandra |date=2011|publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=9780739147795 |oclc=995581316}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> López removed the disguise of the Virgin of Guadalupe, placed on Tonantzin by the colonizers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/21/a-bloody-tale-of-how-mexico-went-catholic|title=A Bloody Tale of How Mexico Went Catholic|last=Riding|first=Alan|date=February 21, 2016|access-date=June 10, 2019|language=en}}</ref> She sought to restore Mexican history and remind Chicano/as of their hidden past. In Lopez's revised image, the icon is seen as a protector and leader. Davalos explains, López's "intent was not to explore the Virgen de Guadalupe's divinity but to deconstruct the image 'to see how we present ourselves'. López's deconstruction of images of women such as the Virgen de Guadalupe was an effort to acknowledge the complex social and historical conditions that inform the experiences of Mexican and Mexican American women".<ref name=":5" /> In one specific image she portrays her mother, Margaret Stewart, sewing the Virgin's starred mantle. Some other iconic elements of the Virgin de Guadalupe image appear including the Halo above her head and the image of Juan Diego at her feet.
The following will be an analysis of the original Virgen de Guadalupe in order to understand the differences when compared to Yolanda López's ''Walking Guadalupe'' from the ''Virgen de Guadalupe'' series. When looking at the original depiction of the Virgen de Guadalupe one notices a luminous light that outlines the virgin. This light represents God's heavenly light, and that the Virgen de Guadalupe is indeed blessed by his light. The crescent moon symbolizes her virginity, the angel that supports her and carries her is a symbol of her importance as the heavenly queen. In the Christian faith, her turquoise shawl with golden stars symbolizes her eternal life, while the bow around her waist is a symbol of her virginity, and the swelling of her abdomen shows that she is indeed carrying a child.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Full of grace : encountering Mary in faith, art, and life|last=Dupré, Judith, 1956-|date=2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=9780679643661|edition= 1st|location=New York|oclc=698459090}}</ref> However, she most importantly symbolizes maternity. It could even be argued that the Virgen de Guadalupe establishes gender roles,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Peterson|first=Jeanette Favrot|date=1992|title=The Virgin of Guadalupe: Symbol of Conquest or Liberation?|journal=Art Journal|volume=51|issue=4|pages=39–47|doi=10.2307/777283|issn=0004-3249|jstor=777283}}</ref> vis-à-vis the idea of a holy women who is a virgin untouched by sin, a women carrying a child from God, and a mother ready to give her child love and affection.


====''Artist as the Virgen of Guadalupe''====
==== ''¿A Donde Vas, Chicana?'' ====
While attending the [[University of California, San Diego]], Lopez created the ''¿A Donde Vas, Chicana?,'' Spanish for "Where are you going, [[Chicano|Chicana]]?", ''Getting through College'' series as part of her MFA exhibition in 1977.<ref name=":13">{{cite book |url=http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/LopezGuide.pdf |author1=Veronica Alvarez |author2=Theresa Soto |year=2009 |title=Teacher's Guide For 'Yolanda M. López' |publisher=UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> The four by five feet canvas painted with acrylic and oil portrays a toned Lopez as the runner jogging intensely across a college campus in a tank top and shorts with her hair pulled back.<ref name=jstor3178436>{{cite journal |last1=LaDuke |first1=Betty |title=Yolanda Lopez: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes |journal=Feminist Studies |date=1994 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=117–130 |doi=10.2307/3178436 |jstor=3178436 |hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0020.110 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> She based this painting on her experience of running to get in shape and have control over her body.<ref name=jstor3178436/> In the journal article "Yolanda Lopez: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes", [[Betty LaDuke]] interviews Lopez and she informs us that the series was presented from the perspective of "a woman calling on her body in an assertive and physically disciplined manner as a power ally.<ref name=jstor3178436/> She commented on the runner's noteworthiness saying, "It is female. It is Chicana. It is a self-portrait. The metaphor extends from the symbolic fortitude of women to the literal image of a Chicana's struggle in a formidable institution."<ref name=jstor3178436/> Lopez compared a runner's "short-lived speed with women's psychological and physical sustaining power of endurance" and stated that "Endurance is one of our greatest survival tools."<ref name=jstor3178436/>
Although many artists opt to make original artwork, some like López redesigned an impactful cultural image in order to change a viewer's point of view and offer an alternative interpretation. Yolanda López is known for her series of ''Virgen De Guadalupe'' wherein she challenges stereotypes placed on Mexican women. She looked at the most famous, religious, and iconic paintings in Mexican culture, the Virgin Mary or the Virgen de Guadalupe, and she felt the images were not truly representing Mexican women.<ref name=":4" /> It did the opposite showing how Mexican women should look like and it bothered her. The painting, the Virgin Mary, shows how Mexican women should be gracefully, skinny, young, and "good." Yolanda explains in the original Virgin that she is, “bound by the excess cloth around her legs that makes her immobile."<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=https://joannagarciasite.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/radical-love-yolanda-lopez-reimagining-la-virgen-de-guadalupe/|title=Radical Love: Yolanda López Reimagining la Virgen de Guadalupe|date=2016-11-27|website=Joanna Garcia|language=en|access-date=2019-06-06}}</ref> López was tired of seeing stereotypical paintings of Mexican American women so she made her own three-piece series to truly capture the beauty of Mexican women, and two important women in her life, her mother and grandmother. She wanted to show the three generations for her series going from young, middle, and old age.


=== ''Things I never told my son about being a Mexican'' ===
The ''Artist as the Virgen of Guadalupe'' painting shows López herself running out of the picture frame, smiling with her running shoes as if competing in a race, wearing Mary's shawl as a cape, and jumping over the red, white, and blue angel, showing pride in her culture, and finally holding a snake to demonstrate the strength she holds. López explains this imagery, saying “[s]he holds the Guadalupe cloak like a cape at the end of a race and jumps over the angel with red, white, and blue wings a symbol of the United States capitalism.”<ref name=":8" /> In “Yolanda López: Breaking Chicana stereotypes” Laduke explains, “López not only commands her body but seems but seems to predict her role as an artist who is not afraid of encountering social and political issues or using her skills to promote social change.<ref name=":4" />” López isn't afraid to challenge society or to change what has been falsely represented in Mexican culture, through images of the Virgin Mary, and through images projecting how young women and mothers should look or behave a certain way. Through her art, López challenges her culture. As Karen Mary Davalos asserts, "López consistently confronts predominant modes of Latino and Latina representations, proposing new models of gender, racial, and cultural identity."<ref name=":5" />
''Things I never told my Son about being a Mexican'' was a featured as a piece in López's exhibition ''Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams'' in 1988.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb2n39p0kt/|title=Calisphere: Things I Never Told My Son About Being A Mexican|website=Calisphere|year=1988 |language=en|access-date=June 6, 2019}}</ref> The piece touches on identity, [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]], and [[Culture change|cultural change]];<ref>{{cite web|title=Feminist Artist: Yolanda López|website=Butterfly|date=February 13, 2014 |url=https://bluemariposafap.wordpress.com/feminist-artist/|access-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref> it consists of three-dimensional items including cactus cutouts and children's clothing attached to a large yellow backdrop with a zigzag border on the top and a [[barbed wire]] border on the bottom. The bottom text reads: "THINGS I NEVER TOLD MY SON ABOUT BEING A MEXICAN". The work's message ranges from embracing one's culture to addressing the oppression and discrimination faced in America, as the two borders depicted in the artwork are suggestive of the literal borders between the United States and Mexico.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Markovitz |first1=Jonathan |title=Blurring the Lines: Art on The Border |journal=Postmodern Culture |date=1994 |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.1353/pmc.1994.0063 |s2cid=144428619 }}</ref> It can also be connected to López's "[[culture shock]]" experience after going to college, where she realized that she knew nothing about her own Mexican heritage or cultural history.<ref name="jstor3178436" />


''Things I never told my son about being a Mexican'' addressed her son, Río Yañez, who was nine years old at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.widewalls.ch/what-is-chicano-art|title=What is the Vibrant Chicano Art All About ?|website=Widewalls|access-date=June 6, 2019}}</ref> In the artwork, a textured and three dimensional [[mixed media]] collage, children's clothes protrude from the warm yellow background wall, with barbed wire depicted from an aerial perspective. As Karen Mary Davalos, argues, "López intentionally selected these objects for their mundane or everyday quality so that she could support her argument about the ubiquitous nature of stereotypical images. The images of sleeping Mexicans, smiling señoritas, and dancing fruits and vegetables are made absurd through unexpected placement, juxtaposition, and repetition. Her work interrogates images of Mexicans and Chicanos, and it challenges not only the context in which fine art is displayed but also the assumptions about who should be invited into such elite spaces."<ref name=":5" />
“López says of her intended viewer, ‘Over the years as I have created my art, I have tried to address an audience, a Chicano audience, specifically a California Chicano audience.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://libris.mtsac.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=171514&site=ehost-live&scope=site|title=Latinas in the United States : A Historical Encyclopedia|last=Ruíz|first=Vicki|last2=Sánchez Korrol|first2=Virginia|date=2006|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253346803|series=Gale Virtual Reference Library|location=Bloomington|language=English}}</ref>'” She addressed a certain audience with her work, gearing it towards Mexican American/Chicana women in California. Alma López says, “Yolanda stated that by doing these portraits of her mother, grandmother, and herself she wanted to draw attention and pay homage to working class women, old women, middle-aged overweight women, young, and self-assertive women."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://almalopez.com/projects/ChicanasLatinas/lopezyolanda3.html|title=Yolanda Lopez|website=almalopez.com|access-date=2019-06-06}}</ref> And she captured all that in all three paintings.


== Personal life ==
====''Nuestra Madre''====
In 1978, López and conceptual artist [[René Yañez]] moved to San Francisco's Mission District, and in 1980 she gave birth to [[Rio Yañez]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>Davalos, Karen Mary (2008). ''Yolanda López''. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press. {{ISBN|9780895511102}}.{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> A few years later, López moved into the apartment next door and maintained a professional relationship with Yañez.<ref name=":0" /> After 40 years of living in her home, in 2014, she and her family faced [[eviction]] through the [[Ellis Act]]. In response, she created a series of "eviction [[garage sale]]s" to comment on issues of [[gentrification]] and [[cultural heritage]] in San Francisco.<ref name=":4" /> According to the [[UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center]] Press (2009), "López's artwork aims to offer new possibilities for Chicanas and women of color living under conditions of [[patriarchy]], [[racism]], and material inequality."<ref name=":5" /> Her contributions to Chicana society and [[feminism]] are seen as significant.<ref name=":9" />
Yolanda López's, ''Nuestra Madre'' (1981–88, acrylic and oil paint on masonite, 4 x 6 feet), is one of the portraits in her ''Virgin of Guadalupe'' series in which she transformed original images of the Virgen de Guadalupe to offer viewers new insight. Her depiction of the virgin in ''Nuestra Madre'' depicts an older and more ancient stone figure, harkening back to the importance of the Mexican and Chicano/a community today. In ''Nuestra Madre'' López likens the portrait to an ancient goddess. During the 16th-century, people did see the Virgin of Guadalupe as connected to the ancient goddess [[Tonantzin]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harrington|first=Patricia|date=1988|title=Mother of Death, Mother of Rebirth: The Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|volume=56|issue=1|pages=25–50|issn=0002-7189|jstor=1464830}}</ref> Tonantzin is an ancient Aztec goddess the people of Mexico would worship in [[Tepeyac]] when the Spaniards had not yet colonized Mexico. Later, she was then disguised to look different so that the Spaniards would allow them to keep her as a religious image that was acceptable to their newer foreign religion of Catholicism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Transforming borders : Chicana/o popular culture and pedagogy|last=Elenes, C. Alejandra, 1958-|date=2011|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9780739147795|oclc=995581316}}</ref> López decided to remove the disguise of the Virgin of Guadalupe that was placed on Tonantzin, before she was covered to assimilate into the church of this new religion being forced onto the people of Mexico.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/21/a-bloody-tale-of-how-mexico-went-catholic|title=A Bloody Tale of How Mexico Went Catholic|last=Riding|first=Alan|date=2016-02-21|access-date=2019-06-10|language=en}}</ref> Lopez wanted to bring that part of Mexican history back because she wants Chicano/as to know their history and because she does not want them to forget that part of themselves that was hidden. Not only is the Virgin of Guadalupe an ancient goddess but she is also a feminist symbol because she is seen as a protector and a leader to the people in poverty. Even though the Virgin de Guadalupe is seen as a gentlewoman, she is indeed strong and powerful. She is someone men look to for help because she is their savior and they see her as an equal. As Karen Mary Davalos explains, López's "intent was not to explore the Virgen de Guadalupe’s divinity but to deconstruct the image 'to see how we present ourselves.' López’s deconstruction of images of women such as the Virgen de Guadalupe was an effort to acknowledge the complex social and historical conditions that inform the experiences of Mexican and Mexican American women."<ref name=":5" />


López died on September 3, 2021, in San Francisco, California, at the age of 78 due to cancer.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":15" />
Yolanda López's ''Virgin of Guadalupe'' series is one that shows women as powerful beings who are not simply caregivers, objects, housewives; instead they are powerful goddesses who are capable of so much more, which is powerful within itself.


== Select exhibitions ==
== Select exhibitions ==
1993 - "La Frontera / The Border: Art about the Mexico/United States Border Experience," [[Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego]], San Diego, California


1997 - "Mirror, Mirror... Gender Roles and the Historical Significance of Beauty," [[San Jose Museum of Art]], San Jose, California
* 1993 ''La Frontera / The Border: Art about the Mexico/United States Border Experience'', [[Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego]], San Diego, California<ref name=":12" />
* 1997 – ''Mirror, Mirror... Gender Roles and the Historical Significance of Beauty,'' [[San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art]], San Jose, California<ref>{{Cite web|title=Guide to the Yolanda M. Lopez Papers CEMA 11|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf109nb0nx/entire_text/|access-date=September 9, 2021|website=oac.cdlib.org}}</ref>

2008 - "A Declaration of Immigration," group exhibition, [[National Museum of Mexican Art]], Chicago, Illinois<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/exhibits/declaration-immigration-0|title=A Declaration of Immigration|website=National Museum of Mexican Art|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref>
* 2008 ''A Declaration of Immigration,'' group exhibition, [[National Museum of Mexican Art]], Chicago, Illinois<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/exhibits/declaration-immigration-0|title=A Declaration of Immigration|website=National Museum of Mexican Art|access-date=January 16, 2019}}</ref>
* 2008 – ''Women's Work is Never Done'', solo exhibition, [[Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts]] (MCCLA), San Francisco, California<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sanjose.com/women-on-war-solo-mujeres-21st-annual-juried-exhibition-and-yolanda-lopezs-solo-show-womens-work-is-never-done-e263061|title='Women on War' Solo Mujeres 21st Annual Juried Exhibition and Yolanda Lopez's solo show 'Womens Work is Never Done'|date=2008|website=www.sanjose.com|access-date=January 16, 2019}}</ref>

2008 - "Women’s Work is Never Done", solo exhibition, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA), San Francisco, California<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sanjose.com/women-on-war-solo-mujeres-21st-annual-juried-exhibition-and-yolanda-lopezs-solo-show-womens-work-is-never-done-e263061|title="Women on War" Solo Mujeres 21st Annual Juried Exhibition and Yolanda Lopez's solo show "Womens Work is Never Done"|date=2008|website=www.sanjose.com|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref>
* 2011 – ''Mex/L.A.:Mexican Modernisms in Los Angeles, 1930–1985,'' [[Museum of Latin American Art]], Long Beach, California.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://artdaily.com/news/52779/MEX-LA--Mexican-modernism-s--in-Los-Angeles-at-the-Museum-of-Latin-American-Art|title=MEX/LA: Mexican modernism(s) in Los Angeles at the Museum of Latin American Art|website=artdaily.com|access-date=January 16, 2019}}</ref>
* 2017 – ''Here Now: Where We Stand'', group exhibition, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA), San Francisco, California<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kpfa.org/event/mission-cultural-center-latino-arts-mccla-presents-now-stand/|title=Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) Presents: 'Here Now: Where We Stand'|date=April 24, 2017|website=KPFA|language=en-US|access-date=January 16, 2019}}</ref>

2011 - "Mex/L.A.:Mexican" Modernisms in Los Angeles, 1930-1985," [[Museum of Latin American Art]], Long Beach, California.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://artdaily.com/news/52779/MEX-LA--Mexican-modernism-s--in-Los-Angeles-at-the-Museum-of-Latin-American-Art|title=MEX/LA: Mexican modernism(s) in Los Angeles at the Museum of Latin American Art|website=artdaily.com|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref>
* 2017–18 ''Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985,'' [[Hammer Museum]], Los Angeles<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lca.sfsu.edu/lcanews/2017/09/28/817288-alum-yolanda-lopez-featured-radical-women-latin-american-art-exhibit|title=Alum Yolanda Lopez Featured in 'Radical Women: Latin American Art' Exhibit|date=September 28, 2017|website=College of Liberal & Creative Arts, San Francisco State University|access-date=January 16, 2019}}</ref> and [[Brooklyn Museum]], Brooklyn, New York.
* 2021 – ''Portrait of the Artist'', [[Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego]], San Diego, California<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 7, 2020|title=Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to Move Forward with Exhibition of Chicanx Artist Yolanda López|url=http://artnowla.com/2020/07/07/museum-of-contemporary-art-san-diego-to-move-forward-with-exhibition-of-chicanx-artist-yolanda-lopez/|access-date=June 19, 2021|website=Art Now LA|language=en-US}}</ref>

2017 - “Here Now: Where We Stand”, group exhibition, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA), San Francisco, California<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kpfa.org/event/mission-cultural-center-latino-arts-mccla-presents-now-stand/|title=Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) Presents: "Here Now: Where We Stand"|date=2017-04-24|website=KPFA|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref>

2017 – 2018 - "Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985," [[Hammer Museum]], Los Angeles<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lca.sfsu.edu/lcanews/2017/09/28/817288-alum-yolanda-lopez-featured-radical-women-latin-american-art-exhibit|title=Alum Yolanda Lopez Featured in 'Radical Women: Latin American Art' Exhibit|date=September 28, 2017|website=College of Liberal & Creative Arts, San Francisco State University|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref> and [[Brooklyn Museum]], Brooklyn, New York.


== See also ==
== See also ==
* [[Chicano art movement]]
* [[Chicano art movement]]
* [[Chicana art|Chicana Art]]
* [[Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation]]
* [[Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation]]


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|40em}}
{{reflist}}
*{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/LopezGuide.pdf|title=A Ver: Revisioning Art History Volume 2|last=Alvarez|first=Veronica|authorlink=|last2=Soto|first2=Theresa|date=2009|website=|access-date=}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{Archival records}}
*{{cite book|last1=Davalos|first1=Karen Mary|title=Yolanda López|date=2008|publisher=Univ. of Minnesota Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=9780895511102}}
*{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/LopezGuide.pdf|title=A Ver: Revisioning Art History Volume 2|last1=Alvarez|first1=Veronica|last2=Soto|first2=Theresa|date=2009}}
*[http://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/cema/lopez_y Yolanda Lopez - Guide to the Yolanda M. López Papers, 1961&ndash;1998] at the [[California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives]]
{{Mexican-American}}


{{Mexican-American}}
{{Women's Museum of California}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Yolanda}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Yolanda}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:1942 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century American painters]]
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[[Category:20th-century American printmakers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women painters]]
[[Category:21st-century American women painters]]
[[Category:American artists of Mexican descent]]
[[Category:American artists of Mexican descent]]
[[Category:American muralists]]
[[Category:American women printmakers]]
[[Category:Artists from San Diego]]
[[Category:Artists from San Diego]]
[[Category:American women painters]]
[[Category:Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American women in the arts]]
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American women in the arts]]
[[Category:American women printmakers]]
[[Category:Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Women muralists]]
[[Category:20th-century American painters]]
[[Category:20th-century American women artists]]
[[Category:21st-century American painters]]
[[Category:21st-century American women artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American printmakers]]
[[Category:University of California, San Diego alumni]]
[[Category:San Diego State University alumni]]
[[Category:San Diego State University alumni]]
[[Category:San Francisco State University alumni]]
[[Category:San Francisco State University alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, San Diego alumni]]
[[Category:American women muralists]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in California]]

Latest revision as of 19:41, 10 August 2024

Yolanda López
Born(1942-11-01)November 1, 1942
DiedSeptember 3, 2021(2021-09-03) (aged 78)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
EducationSan Diego State University (BA)
University of California, San Diego (MFA)
Known forPainting, prints
Notable workReinterpretations of the Virgen de Guadalupe image, political poster "Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?"
MovementBay Area Chicano art movement
ChildrenRio Yañez
AwardsFord Foundation and Mellon Foundation grant
2021 Latinx Artist Fellowship

Yolanda Margarita López (November 1, 1942 – September 3, 2021) was an American painter, printmaker, educator, and film producer. She was known for her Chicana feminist works focusing on the experiences of Mexican-American women, often challenging the ethnic stereotypes associated with them.[1] Lopez was recognized for her series of paintings which re-imagined the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe.[2][3] Her work is held in several public collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Early life and education

[edit]

Yolanda Margarita López was born on November 1, 1942, in San Diego, California,[4] to Margaret Franco and Mortimer López.[2] She was a third-generation Chicana.[5][6] Her grandparents migrated from Mexico to the United States, crossing the Río Bravo river in a boat while avoiding gunfire from the Texas Rangers.[7] López and her two younger siblings were raised by her mother and maternal grandparents in San Diego.[8]

After graduating from high school in Logan Heights in San Diego, she moved to San Francisco and took courses at the College of Marin[2] and San Francisco State University.[7] She became involved in a student movement called the Third World Liberation Front,[7] which shut down SFSU as a part of the Third World Liberation Front strikes of 1968[9] She also became active in the arts.[5]

In 1969, López was instrumental in advertising the case of Los Siete de la Raza, in which seven young Latin American youths were accused of killing a police officer. Serving as the groups artistic director, she designed the poster "Free Los Siete," where the faces of these men are shown behind an inverted American flag that appears like prison bars.[10] This poster was featured in the exhibition "¡Printing the Revolution!" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where curator Evelyn Carmen Ramos noted it had been "circulated at rallies and in newspapers, and galvanized the Mission District's Chicano and Latino community into a powerful social force with a noticeable presence in subsequent city politics."[10][11]

During the 1970s, López returned to San Diego, and enrolled at San Diego State University in 1971, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in painting and drawing. She then enrolled at the University of California, San Diego, receiving a Master of Fine Arts in 1979.[12][13] While at the University of California, San Diego, her professors Allan Sekula and Martha Rosler encouraged her to focus on conceptual practice with social, political, and educational impact.[14][15]

Career

[edit]

López is recognized for her iconic series that reinterpreted the Virgen de Guadalupe through drawings, prints, collage, and paintings.[16][17] The series, which depicted Mexican women (among them her grandmother, her mother, and López herself) with the mandorla and other Guadalupean attributes, attracted attention for sanctifying average Mexican women shown performing domestic and other forms of labor.[18] In her 1978 triptych of oil pastel drawings, López depicted herself clutching a snake while stepping on an angel, a symbol of the patriarchy.[19]

López created another set of prints with a similar theme entitled Woman's Work is Never Done. One of the artworks for the set, The Nanny, addressed problems faced by immigrant women of Hispanic descent in the United States and was featured at the Institute of Contemporary Art San José.[14]

Her famous political poster titled Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim? features a man in an Toltec headdress[20] and traditional jewelry holding a crumpled-up paper titled "Immigration Plans."[21] The layout recalls the Uncle Sam Wants You posters from World War I.[22][23] This 1978 poster[24] was created during a period of political debate in the U.S. which resulted in the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1978, which limited immigration from a single country to 20,000 people per year with a total cap of 290,000.[25] The poster suggests that the ancestors of white Americans were themselves unwelcome immigrants.[22] It also invokes the Aztec legend of Aztlán, which involved claims that the people indigenous to central Mexico had immigration rights to the traditional homelands of the Native Americans who were indigenous to the Southwestern United States.[22][26]

López also curated exhibitions, including Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams,[27] which featured works of art concerning immigration to the United States.[28] The exhibition debuted at the Galería de la Raza and subsequently toured nationwide as part of an exhibition called La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience.[29]

López produced two films: Images of Mexicans in the Media and When you Think of Mexico, which challenged the way the mass media depicts Mexicans and other Latin Americans.[30][31]

She served as Director of Education at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco, and taught at University of California, Berkeley,[10] University of California San Diego,[6] Mills College, and Stanford University.[14]

López stated, "It is important for us to be visually literate; it is a survival skill. The media is what passes for culture in contemporary U.S. society, and it is extremely powerful. It is crucial that we systematically explore the cultural mis-definition of Mexicans and Latin Americans that is presented in the media."[6]

She was awarded a $50,000 fellowship from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation as part of their Latinx Artist Fellowship in 2021.[2] A retrospective exhibition of Lopez work was scheduled to be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in October 2021.[3][32]

Artwork created by Lopez is in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.[3] Her artwork is held in the public collections of several museums including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art[33] the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[34] the Ulrich Museum of Art,[35] the De Young Museum, and the Oakland Museum of California.[15][21]

Selected artwork

[edit]

The Guadalupe series

[edit]

Beginning in 1978 and ending in 1988, López created a series of images that reinterpreted the Virgen de Guadalupe. López earned recognition for the sieries which depicted people close to her as the Virgen de Guadalupe and reinvigorated the image into different forms. The artwork drew attention with the new, albeit controversial, depictions of the Virgen de Guadalupe.[18][36] However, starting a controversy was not López's intention. In "American Women: Great lives from History", author Mary K. Trigg writes, "López's formal education and burgeoning feminism contributed to her growing interest in the politics of representation, resulting in work that progressively examined the social and cultural invisibility of women".[37] López wanted to depict the Virgen de Guadalupe in numerous ways in order to give women, specifically those originating from Chicana culture, new forms of representation along with López's own comments on society. As Guisela M. Latorre argues, "[i]mages such as Ester Hernandez's 1976 etching Libertad depicting a young Chicana resculpting the Statue of Liberty to resemble a Maya carving, and Yolanda López's pastel drawings (1978) that depicted herself, her mother, and her grandmother in the role of the Virgin of Guadalupe were examples of early Chicana art that placed women at the center of discourses on liberation and decolonization".[38]

The Virgen de Guadalupe

[edit]
a traditional depiction of the Virgen de Guadalupe
Yolanda López, Portrait of the Artist as the Virgen of Guadalupe, 1978, from the Guadalupe series.[39]

López sought to depict the Virgen de Guadalupe in multiple ways due to the religious figures symbolic meaning. It is one of the most recognizable religious figures in the world and one of the most important figures to the people of Mexico. She is a symbol of love, faith, and identity.[40] However, not all the symbolism could be perceived as purely positive; the Virgen de Guadalupe also symbolizes motherhood, virginity, and femininity, which López felt the need to not only address but also critique in her work. In "Yolanda López: Breaking Chicana stereotypes", Betty Laduke observes that López stated: "I feel living, breathing women also deserve the respect and love lavished on Guadalupe... It is a call to look at women, hardworking, enduring and mundane, as the heroines of our daily routine... We privately agonize and sometimes publicly speak out on the representation of us in the majority culture. But what about the portrayal of ourselves in our own culture? Who are our heroes, our role models?... It is dangerous for us to wait around for the dominant culture to define and validate what role models we should have."[37]

Traditional images of the Virgen de Guadalupe stress religious symbolic meaning[41] primarily maternity, reinforcing gender roles.[42] López redesigned a powerful cultural icon in order to shift the observer's point of view by providing an alternative interpretation.[37] López expressed that in images of the original Virgin, she is "bound by the excess cloth around her legs that makes her immobile".[39]

The Artist as the Virgen of Guadalupe painting shows López herself running out of the picture frame, smiling with her running shoes as if competing in a race, wearing Mary's shawl as a cape, and jumping over the red, white, and blue angel, showing pride in her culture, and finally holding a snake to demonstrate the strength she holds. López explained this imagery, saying "[s]he holds the Guadalupe cloak like a cape at the end of a race and jumps over the angel with red, white, and blue wings a symbol of the United States capitalism".[39] In "Yolanda López: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes" Laduke explains, "López not only commands her body but seems to predict her role as an artist who is not afraid of encountering social and political issues or using her skills to promote social change".[37] López is not afraid to challenge society or to change what has been falsely represented in Mexican culture, through images of the Virgin Mary, and through images projecting how young women and mothers should look or behave a certain way. Through her art, López challenged her culture. As Karen Mary Davalos, a scholar of Chicano studies, asserts, "López consistently confronts predominant modes of Latino and Latina representations, proposing new models of gender, racial, and cultural identity".[43] Regarding her intended viewer, López stated "Over the years as I have created my art, I have tried to address an audience, a Chicano audience, specifically a California Chicano audience".[44]

López's Nuestra Madre (1981–88, acrylic and oil paint on masonite), a portrait in the Virgin of Guadalupe series, shows a stone figure as the portrait of an ancient goddess. During the 16th-century, the Virgin of Guadalupe was seen as connected to the goddess Tonantzin,[45] an ancient Aztec goddess the Mexican people worshiped in Tepeyac prior to the Spanish colonization of Mexico. Tonantzin was disguised so the Spaniards would retain her as a religious image acceptable to their imported religion of Roman Catholicism.[46] López removed the disguise of the Virgin of Guadalupe, placed on Tonantzin by the colonizers.[47] She sought to restore Mexican history and remind Chicano/as of their hidden past. In Lopez's revised image, the icon is seen as a protector and leader. Davalos explains, López's "intent was not to explore the Virgen de Guadalupe's divinity but to deconstruct the image 'to see how we present ourselves'. López's deconstruction of images of women such as the Virgen de Guadalupe was an effort to acknowledge the complex social and historical conditions that inform the experiences of Mexican and Mexican American women".[43] In one specific image she portrays her mother, Margaret Stewart, sewing the Virgin's starred mantle. Some other iconic elements of the Virgin de Guadalupe image appear including the Halo above her head and the image of Juan Diego at her feet.

¿A Donde Vas, Chicana?

[edit]

While attending the University of California, San Diego, Lopez created the ¿A Donde Vas, Chicana?, Spanish for "Where are you going, Chicana?", Getting through College series as part of her MFA exhibition in 1977.[16] The four by five feet canvas painted with acrylic and oil portrays a toned Lopez as the runner jogging intensely across a college campus in a tank top and shorts with her hair pulled back.[37] She based this painting on her experience of running to get in shape and have control over her body.[37] In the journal article "Yolanda Lopez: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes", Betty LaDuke interviews Lopez and she informs us that the series was presented from the perspective of "a woman calling on her body in an assertive and physically disciplined manner as a power ally.[37] She commented on the runner's noteworthiness saying, "It is female. It is Chicana. It is a self-portrait. The metaphor extends from the symbolic fortitude of women to the literal image of a Chicana's struggle in a formidable institution."[37] Lopez compared a runner's "short-lived speed with women's psychological and physical sustaining power of endurance" and stated that "Endurance is one of our greatest survival tools."[37]

Things I never told my son about being a Mexican

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Things I never told my Son about being a Mexican was a featured as a piece in López's exhibition Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams in 1988.[48] The piece touches on identity, assimilation, and cultural change;[49] it consists of three-dimensional items including cactus cutouts and children's clothing attached to a large yellow backdrop with a zigzag border on the top and a barbed wire border on the bottom. The bottom text reads: "THINGS I NEVER TOLD MY SON ABOUT BEING A MEXICAN". The work's message ranges from embracing one's culture to addressing the oppression and discrimination faced in America, as the two borders depicted in the artwork are suggestive of the literal borders between the United States and Mexico.[50] It can also be connected to López's "culture shock" experience after going to college, where she realized that she knew nothing about her own Mexican heritage or cultural history.[37]

Things I never told my son about being a Mexican addressed her son, Río Yañez, who was nine years old at the time.[51] In the artwork, a textured and three dimensional mixed media collage, children's clothes protrude from the warm yellow background wall, with barbed wire depicted from an aerial perspective. As Karen Mary Davalos, argues, "López intentionally selected these objects for their mundane or everyday quality so that she could support her argument about the ubiquitous nature of stereotypical images. The images of sleeping Mexicans, smiling señoritas, and dancing fruits and vegetables are made absurd through unexpected placement, juxtaposition, and repetition. Her work interrogates images of Mexicans and Chicanos, and it challenges not only the context in which fine art is displayed but also the assumptions about who should be invited into such elite spaces."[43]

Personal life

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In 1978, López and conceptual artist René Yañez moved to San Francisco's Mission District, and in 1980 she gave birth to Rio Yañez.[5][52] A few years later, López moved into the apartment next door and maintained a professional relationship with Yañez.[5] After 40 years of living in her home, in 2014, she and her family faced eviction through the Ellis Act. In response, she created a series of "eviction garage sales" to comment on issues of gentrification and cultural heritage in San Francisco.[12] According to the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press (2009), "López's artwork aims to offer new possibilities for Chicanas and women of color living under conditions of patriarchy, racism, and material inequality."[43] Her contributions to Chicana society and feminism are seen as significant.[3]

López died on September 3, 2021, in San Francisco, California, at the age of 78 due to cancer.[2][4]

Select exhibitions

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Davalos, Karen Mary (2008). Yolanda M. López. Los Angeles. Chicano Studies Research Center University of California. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press. ISBN 978-0-89551-103-4. OCLC 236143155.
  2. ^ a b c d e Daly, Clara-Sophia (September 3, 2021). "Yolanda López, artist who painted the iconic Virgen de Guadalupe series, dies at 79". Mission Local. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Vega, Priscella (September 5, 2021). "Yolanda López, Chicana artist known for la Virgen de Guadalupe series, dies at 79". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Finkel, Jori (September 18, 2021). "Yolanda López, Artist Who Celebrated Working-Class Women, Dies at 78". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "Shaping San Francisco". Shaping SF. 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "Yolanda Lopez". UCSB Library. August 19, 2011. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c Mirkin, Dina Comisarenco (April 1, 2010). "Yolanda M. López (Book Review)". Woman's Art Journal. 31 (1): 57–59. JSTOR 40605247.
  8. ^ Ruiz, Vicki L. (1998). From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth Century America. New York City: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513099-7.[page needed]
  9. ^ Grossberg, Adam; Muñoz, JoeBill (February 15, 2018). "New Documentary Looks Back At S.F. State Strike on 50th Anniversary". KQED. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  10. ^ a b c Durón, Maximilíano (September 8, 2021). "Yolanda López, Pioneering Chicana Artist Who Reclaimed the Virgen de Guadalupe, Is Dead at 79". ARTnews. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
  11. ^ Rosen, Miss (September 27, 2017). "Groundbreaking Latin artists who aren't Frida Kahlo". Dazed. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  12. ^ a b Frock, Christian L. (June 24, 2014). "Mission artist Yolanda López puts eviction on display". SFGATE.
  13. ^ LaDuke, Betty (1992). Women Artists Multi-Cultural Visions. New Jersey: The Red Sea Press, Inc. pp. 103–112. ISBN 978-0-932415-78-3.
  14. ^ a b c Fajardo-Hill, Cecilia; Giunta, Andrea (2017). Radical women : Latin American art, 1960–1985. Contributions by Rodrigo Alonso [and 13 others]. Los Angeles: Hammer Museum, University of California. ISBN 9783791356808. OCLC 982089637.[page needed]
  15. ^ a b Parkos Arnall, January. "Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985: Yolanda López". Hammer Museum. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  16. ^ a b Veronica Alvarez; Theresa Soto (2009). Teacher's Guide For 'Yolanda M. López' (PDF). UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press.[page needed]
  17. ^ "Yolanda López: Portrait of the Artist". Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  18. ^ a b Davalos, Karen Mary (2008). Yolanda M. López. Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press. ISBN 9780895511034. OCLC 236143155.[page needed]
  19. ^ Jackson, Carlos Francisco (2009). Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. p. 117. ISBN 9780816526475.
  20. ^ Jackson, Carlos Francisco (February 14, 2009). Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-2647-5.
  21. ^ a b "2010.54.6640 Yolanda M. Lopez artist: Who's The Illegal Alien Pilgrim?". The Oakland Museum of California: Collections. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  22. ^ a b c Ramos, E. Carmen (December 2020). ¡Printing the Revolution!: The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-21080-3.
  23. ^ Baugh, Scott L.; Sorell, Victor A. (December 3, 2015). Born of Resistance: Cara a Cara Encounters with Chicana/o Visual Culture. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-3222-3.
  24. ^ Lopez, Yolanda M. (Yolanda Margaret), 1942-. "Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Immigration Statistics: A Story of Neglect. 1985. p. 20. doi:10.17226/593. ISBN 978-0-309-03589-7. Retrieved April 22, 2015. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  26. ^ Aldama, Frederick Luis (May 26, 2016). The Routledge Companion to Latina/o Popular Culture. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-26820-8.
  27. ^ "Calisphere: Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams: Media Myths and Mexicans Exhibition". Calisphere. 1988. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  28. ^ Sorell, V. A.; Baugh, Scott L. (2015). Born of resistance : cara a cara encounters with Chicana/o visual culture. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press. ISBN 9780816532223. OCLC 927446609.[page needed]
  29. ^ a b Chávez, Patricio; Grynsztejn, Madeleine; Kanjo, Kathryn (1993). La Frontera = The border : art about the Mexico/United States border experience. San Diego, CA: Centro Cultural de la Raza. p. 36. ISBN 0934418411. OCLC 28916725.
  30. ^ Ruíz, Vicki; Sánchez Korrol, Virginia (2006). Latinas in the United States : a historical encyclopedia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253111692. OCLC 74671044.[page needed]
  31. ^ Hurtado, Aída (2020). Intersectional Chicana Feminisms: Sitios y Lenguas. University of Arizona Press. pp. 103–104. ISBN 9780816537617.
  32. ^ Langer, Emily (September 7, 2021). "Yolanda López, artist who elevated Latina life, dies at 78". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  33. ^ "Lopez, Yolanda". SFMOMA. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  34. ^ "Yolanda M. López | LACMA Collections". collections.lacma.org. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  35. ^ "Women's Work is Never Done - Ulrich Museum of Art". Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  36. ^ Ponce, Mary Helen (December 12, 1999). "Celebrating Guadalupe, Sacred Icon of the People". Los Angeles Times.
  37. ^ a b c d e f g h i j LaDuke, Betty (1994). "Yolanda Lopez: Breaking Chicana Stereotypes". Feminist Studies. 20 (1): 117–130. doi:10.2307/3178436. hdl:2027/spo.0499697.0020.110. JSTOR 3178436.
  38. ^ Latorre, Guisela M. (2007). "Chicana Art and Scholarship on the Interstices of Our Disciplines". Chicana/Latina Studies. 6 (2): 10–21. JSTOR 23014498.
  39. ^ a b c "Radical Love: Yolanda López Reimagining la Virgen de Guadalupe". Joanna Garcia. November 27, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  40. ^ Cooper, Wilbert L.; Larkin, Ximena N. (December 12, 2017). "How La Virgen de Guadalupe Became an Icon". Vice. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  41. ^ Dupré, Judith (2010). Full of grace : encountering Mary in faith, art, and life (1st ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 9780679643661. OCLC 698459090.[page needed]
  42. ^ Peterson, Jeanette Favrot (1992). "The Virgin of Guadalupe: Symbol of Conquest or Liberation?". Art Journal. 51 (4): 39–47. doi:10.2307/777283. JSTOR 777283.
  43. ^ a b c d Alvarez, Veronica; Soto, Theresa (2009). Teacher's Guide for Yolanda M. Lopez: A Ver: Revisioning Art History, Volume 2. Excerpts from Karen Mary Davalos. University of California: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press, Regents of the University of California.
  44. ^ Ruíz, Vicki; Sánchez Korrol, Virginia (2006). Latinas in the United States : A Historical Encyclopedia. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253346803.[page needed]
  45. ^ Harrington, Patricia (1988). "Mother of Death, Mother of Rebirth: The Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. LVI (1): 25–50. doi:10.1093/jaarel/LVI.1.25. JSTOR 1464830.
  46. ^ Elenes, C. Alejandra (2011). Transforming borders : Chicana/o popular culture and pedagogy. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739147795. OCLC 995581316.[page needed]
  47. ^ Riding, Alan (February 21, 2016). "A Bloody Tale of How Mexico Went Catholic". Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  48. ^ "Calisphere: Things I Never Told My Son About Being A Mexican". Calisphere. 1988. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  49. ^ "Feminist Artist: Yolanda López". Butterfly. February 13, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  50. ^ Markovitz, Jonathan (1994). "Blurring the Lines: Art on The Border". Postmodern Culture. 5 (1). doi:10.1353/pmc.1994.0063. S2CID 144428619.
  51. ^ "What is the Vibrant Chicano Art All About ?". Widewalls. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  52. ^ Davalos, Karen Mary (2008). Yolanda López. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780895511102.[page needed]
  53. ^ "Guide to the Yolanda M. Lopez Papers CEMA 11". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
  54. ^ "A Declaration of Immigration". National Museum of Mexican Art. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  55. ^ "'Women on War' Solo Mujeres 21st Annual Juried Exhibition and Yolanda Lopez's solo show 'Womens Work is Never Done'". www.sanjose.com. 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  56. ^ "MEX/LA: Mexican modernism(s) in Los Angeles at the Museum of Latin American Art". artdaily.com. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  57. ^ "Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) Presents: 'Here Now: Where We Stand'". KPFA. April 24, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  58. ^ "Alum Yolanda Lopez Featured in 'Radical Women: Latin American Art' Exhibit". College of Liberal & Creative Arts, San Francisco State University. September 28, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  59. ^ "Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to Move Forward with Exhibition of Chicanx Artist Yolanda López". Art Now LA. July 7, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
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