Art – ILI 5

Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde was an American writer, womanist, radical feminist, professor, philosopher and civil rights activist. Lorde didn’t balk at labels. She was known for introducing herself with a string of her own: “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” To Lorde, pretending our differences didn’t exist—or considering them “causes for separation and suspicion”—was preventing us from moving forward into a society that welcomed diverse identities without hierarchy. “Those of us who stand outside the circle of this society’s definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in the crucibles of difference—those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are..Read More

Siembra

Siembra is the second studio album by Rubén Blades and Willie Colón, released by Fania Records in September 7, 1978. It is considered the best selling salsa album in the history of salsa My father asks me, why are you so political? But he forgets he introduced me to this music. This is an album I grew up listening to prior to coming to the United States. It is full of honesty and resistance. This album helped me understand the importance of making my music political.

A man sits with his arm around a women, and there are two children sitting next to her. They are on long red seat in what looks like a Ferris wheel car. They look happy together.

“I Like it Like That”

“I Like It Like That” is a 1994 American comedy-drama film about the trials and tribulations of a young Puerto Rican man and a half Jamaican half Puerto Rican woman living in a poverty-stricken New York City neighborhood in the South Bronx. The film stars Lauren Velez, Jon Seda, Lisa Vidal, Griffin Dunne, Jesse Borrego and Rita Moreno, and was written and directed by Darnell Martin. This film was groundbreaking for a few reasons: 1) It was the first major motion picture to give an accurate, authentic and nuanced depiction of a Puerto Rican diasporic family trying to make it..Read More

Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn

Dogeaters, a novel by author Jessica Hagedorn, was published in March 1990. Winner of an American Book Award and nominated for the National Book Award, it became one of the best-known published creative works by a Filipina American. The title refers to a derogatory stereotype about Filipinos, and the novel centers on the lives of several characters from different social classes in Manila in the 1950s. The novel’s surrealist style underscores the maddening contradictions of life in a country where false appearances and abuse of power in politics, mass media, celebrity pop culture, religion, and family relationships overshadow reality and..Read More

American Indian Diversity In Film. An official movie image, with the title "Smoke Signals" and three people with long dark hair, smiling in front of a desert landscape.

Smoke Signals (film)

“Smoke Signals” was marketed as the first feature film written, directed, and produced by Native Americans. It is an important movie for Indian Country and marked a big moment when Native people could see themselves reflected on the big screen. In 2018 it was added to the National Film Registry. The citation reads: “… After the early silent film pioneers James Young Deer and Edwin Carewe, the portrayal of Native Americans in cinema turned dark and stereotypical. These social trends started changing with motion pictures like the groundbreaking “Smoke Signals” … Beneath the highly entertaining façade, the film acquainted non-Native..Read More

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Michelle Yeoh stars as a Chinese American mother being audited by the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) for her failing laundry business, only to discover that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse. It’s a genre-defying film that combines martial arts, science fiction, fantasy, animation, and comedy, and covers themes such as Asian American identity, queerness, intergenerational trauma, family, existentialism, and more. Ke Huey Quan (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) returns to acting from stunt coordinating and directing, after almost three decades of lack of acting opportunities, to..Read More

Dia de los Muertos (Los Angeles)

Dr Dre – The Chronic, December 15, 1992

Lollapalooza Music Festivals

Nirvana – Nevermind album, 1991

The 808 Drum Machine, 1980-83

The Chicano Art Movement, 1960’s – present

The Chicano Art Movement represents attempts by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement (El Movimiento) which began in the 1960s. Chicano art was influenced by post-Mexican Revolution ideologies, pre-Columbian art, European painting techniques and Mexican-American social, political and cultural issues. The movement worked to resist and challenge dominant social norms and stereotypes for cultural autonomy and self-determination. Some issues the movement focused on were awareness of collective history and culture, restoration of land grants, and equal opportunity for..Read More

Category: Art