The Show Must Go Home: Senior Thesis Exhibition Spring 2020

Alondra Costilla

[Yet to be titled]
Alondra Costilla

“I am a woman with a foot in both worlds; and I refuse the split. I feel the necessity for dialogue. Sometimes I feel it urgently.”

― Cherríe L. Moraga, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color

[Yet to be titled] is an installation piece about the complexities of a Mexican American identity. I explore notions of gender, language (body and spoken), stereotypes, and constructs (social and cultural) with the implementation of ideas from Chicana Feminism by creating seven framed collages in a personal bedroom setting. The constructed space invites dialogues that questions and challenges bicultural and generational mainstream ideals on femininity, domesticity, motherhood, and rites of passage.

With collage, I have created visual narratives on varying topics within Mexican American communities that illustrate traditions, symbols, and icons in Mexican culture. These pieces were inspired by surrealism, constructivism, Chicana Feminist ideology, and personal experience. The subjects in these collages work together to acknowledge and critique bicultural psychosocial constructs coming from the perspective of a Mexican American female identifying individual. 

Inside the frames we see moments of cultural customs and sayings that I have experienced as the daughter of immigrants. In Staring at the Ceiling, Looking at the Walls, a woman lying on a checkerboard floor ponders on the thought of their parents immigrating to the US, familial values, and questions the journey of marriage and motherhood.  In Identity Crisis, I work with imagery that presents traditional ways of cleansing (the use of sage and the cracking of an egg into water) and express an internal conflict of not feeling Mexican or American enough. We see tongue twisting layered mouths to communicate a sense of longing for fluency in language, in Lazos de Lengua. The reappearance of the Virgen de Guadalupe in some of the works is also prominent, and displays her iconicism in Mexico and the United States throughout her followers, as well as the spiritual comfort that she brings into my own personal life. Where Do I Go From Here?, the centerpiece collage, is the whole of the parts. Throughout the piece I have integrated subjects from its neighboring collages to create a sense of exploration and curiosity. There is a presence of higher power, being protected by these femme idols watching over us. In the center we see a matriarch holding her feather duster almost as if it was a pastoral staff. This god-like entity directs their eye contact to the viewer, and challenges machismo and these cultural/social constructs. I have appropriated aspects of catholicism, and engage with the number three and its association with the holy trinity. The repetition of thirds is seen in various areas of Where Do I Go From Here?, including the alignment of the framed collages on the walls which is segmented into thirds. 

The collages are used as vehicles to visually display the thoughts, anxieties, microaggressions, and wonders that this person has when in the comfort of their own bedroom. Inspired by the colorfully painted houses in Mexico, the pink bedroom installation is used as a space to convey the significance of a private sphere. The framing and placing of the collages in this setting is used to embody wall decor and photographs that oneself puts in a household to decorate. Decorating and embellishing these domestic spaces is seen as women's work, as well as the use of craft materials. The application of frames, glitter, rhinestones, string, and synthetic flowers adds a layer of ornamentation to these works that has been linked to femininity and feminine objects.  

 My interest in identity and constructs stemmed from the works of bell hooks, Judith Butler, and Cherrie Moraga. Along with the political argument, the personal is political and the collage work of Hannah Hoch. Hannah Hoch was a German female artist who pioneered new methods during the constructivist movement. Much of the work dealt with political discourse and shifting gender roles. I admire the way she collages parts of the body to create these fluid yet distorted images. Judith Butler’s thoughts on gender and performance, along with bell hook’s Teaching to Transgress were some of the building blocks in thinking about the work. I am interested in the ways the personal gives new perspectives. Including the ways media and time create labels and obstructs perspectives to give societies a “fixed” image on gender, race, and culture. 
During the production of the work I used both analog and digital methods of image searching. Sourcing images from online made it easily accessible to type in and find an exact image. The incorporation of collage material found digitally helped to create this bridge between culture, popular culture, and media. This enhanced the thinking behind the works. Before beginning the pieces, I would sort through hundreds of images throughout Google search that I believe would best help to visualize the topics that I wanted to touch on. Many of the images that I worked with display cultural iconography. I also included photographic works by Paz Errariuz, Nacho Lopez, Graciela Iturbide, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Mariana Yampolsky and other photographers who are either LatinX identifying or have photographed images in Mexico or nearby areas. An important aspect to note, is the manipulation and appropriation of images to create a new image. By cutting out and assembling various subjects to work together, I am stripping away the original intent behind these works to create something of my own. While working out possible orientations for these collages, I seek out images of people whos’ body language and facial expressions help guide these metadiscourses and characters.

 The complexities of identity and the way people attach preconceived notions, qualities, and beliefs to different races and cultures is what I hope the viewer takes away. The media underrepresents groups of people by projecting a single narrative about marginalized ethnicities and races. Pulling photographs and iconography in media via the internet and printed works, circles back to these ideas on representation and the effect it has on others. By reworking these found images that are accessible to millions of people, I am reconstructing my own truths, experiences, and findings for others to think beyond the bounds of what societies have constructed.

To learn more about Alondra's work visit:
https://alondracostilla.myportfolio.com

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