Chicana Art

“A landmark text for understanding recurring concepts and themes of the spiritual, the political, and the aesthetic in Chicana art theories and practices.”—Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, independent scholar, New York City

“For Laura E. Pérez, ‘spirit’ is a twenty-first-century method of analysis. This book transforms cultural productions into portals through which academic disciplines are linked. This daring objective is achieved through Chicana and U.S. third-world feminist technologies. The work of Chicana Art makes spirit visible.”—Chela Sandoval, author of Methodology of the Oppressed

“In light of the very real difficulties of engaging the ‘spiritual’ within the largely secular Enlightenment discourses in the human sciences, Laura E. Pérez’s work on the realms of the spiritual and the political in art alters the frame of reference, of what can be seen and known.”—Rosa Linda Fregoso, author of meXicana Encounters: The Making of Social Identities on the Borderlands

“Laura E. Pérez illuminates the connections between the heterogeneous forms and themes cultivated by Chicana artists, filmmakers, and writers—connections that have been floating in the air for some time but never brought together in a concrete way until now.”—Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, author of The Wounded Heart: Writing on Cherríe Moraga

“Chicana Art is the first book of its kind that preserves a long history of outspoken Latinas using their talents to change family traditions. With their richly colorful artwork, these Chicanas successfully show the Western world who they are and why they aren’t just another Spanish-speaking minority. Perez not only examines the different stories behind many Chicana’s religious installations, but she encourages her audience to empower themselves by altering their self image and embrace the future that awaits them.”

“Pérez offers a rich analysis of a vast array of artistic works. . . . Pérez’s arguments are theoretically sound and always consistent with the organizing category of politicized spirituality. . . . Pérez’s notion of the politics of the spiritual as generative of tangible political and social effects is a critical contribution to the epistemological frameworks that inform Chicana/o studies and extends further to enrich this category’s management within art history, literary, and American studies.”

“The first book-length study of Chicana art, this long-anticipated volume surpasses expectation in breadth, depth, and presentation and begins to fill a noticeable gap in feminist scholarship. We applaud Duke University Press for having done an exceptional job in the production of this book. Beautifully designed, it is printed on heavy paper with high quality graphics and carefully chosen fonts. This high production value pays respect to the quality, depth, and diversity of the Chicana arts movement, which—as Pérez argues—encompasses a rich array of literature, essays, film, and fine arts including prints, silkscreen, painting, photography, murals, textiles, mixed media, digital art, conceptual art, and performance art.”