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Maya Escobar

Conceptual Identity Artist

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Yo Soy Oro

centro-musical.jpg

Yo Soy Oro is a state of mind, a feeling and a destination. I Am Gold means as good as it gets, the best that money can buy, constantly increasing in value. El Centro de Oro is all that and more. Third generation family owned businesses thrive, while new investments bring change to the streets. Lovely long haired ladies in shiny gold outfits stride confidently down clean sidewalks where bright yellow big bellies on every corner keep trash where it belongs. Taste the rich flavors of tropical dishes and rock to the sounds of solid gold hits from the best of Latin music.El BohioJerrysLamboy

tags: AMerican MEdia Output, centro de oro, Centro Musical, El Bohío, Escobar-Morales, Jerry's Fashions, Lamboy Furniture, marketing, Philadelphia, Taller Puertorriqueno, yo soy oro
categories: Art, exhibition, identity, Latina, Performance, Performance Text, Pop Culture
Thursday 09.11.14
Posted by maya escobar
 

New Futuro featured in The Atlantic's series on economic progress

[brightcove vid=1939423568001&exp3=1054655355001&surl=http://c.brightcove.com/services&pubid=29913724001&pk=AQ~~,AAAABvb_NGE~,DMkZt2E6wO3_sfth6vHgTpNZZSEwcydt&w=480&h=270]

New Futuro, founded in 2008, works with community organizations and schools in urban Latino neighborhoods to provide students and their families with access to the college materials they'll need, all of which are available in both English and Spanish translations. The company's web platform offers America's largest Hispanic scholarship database and hundreds of articles featuring useful advice on college planning, as well as profiles of successful minorities who've reached high levels in their careers. New Futuro also publishes a bilingual print magazine, which is distributed for free in high schools and through nonprofit and community partners.

read the full article in The Atlantic: New Futuro Narrows the Education Gap for Latino Students

tags: bilingual, College, education, Hispanics, Latinos, New Futuro, Social Innovation, Startup, The Atlantic
categories: identity, Latina, Maya Escobar
Sunday 11.04.12
Posted by maya escobar
 

Escobar-Morales at The Painted Bride in Papeles: Are we what we sign?

PAPELES: Are we what we sign? aims to serve as a visual examination of our social bond with papers as legal signifiers of identity that shape individual mobility, cultural acceptance, gender and sexual-orientation equality, economic access, labor opportunities, and educational attainment.  Visual artists, community leaders, and arts administrators use this project to reflect upon the socio-cultural impact of documentation processes present in American society.This exhibition gathers twelve influential—established and emerging—artists working in drawing, painting, installation, printmaking, photography, and mixed media. Participating artists include Andrea Rincon, Andria Morales, Carlos Nuñez, Doris Nogueira-Rogers, Erika Ristovski, the duo Escobar-Morales, Jonas Dos Santos, Jorge Figueroa, Lina Cedeño, Michelle Ortiz, Paula Meninato, and Susana Amundaraín.  They propose social-visual experiments from their positions as immigrants and/or descendants of immigrants from Latin American nations. New and existing works in this exhibition illuminate the concept of documentation into powerful narratives of critique, ambiguity, longing, and resilience. The Painted Bride230 Vine Street | Philadelphia, PA 19106 | 215.925.9914September 7 – October 21, 2012Gallery hours: 12pm – 6pm, Tues – SatFirst Friday receptions: September 7, October 5 | 5-7:30pmGuest Curator Andreina Castillo | Co-Presented with Acción Colombia

tags: AMerican MEdia Output, Andreina Castillo, Andria Morales, Escobar-Morales, Public Airways, The Painted Bride
categories: contmporary art, curatorial, exhibition, identity, immigration, Latina, Maya Escobar, political
Friday 08.24.12
Posted by maya escobar
 

Digital. Creative. Conceptual. Think Tank Team.

Ladies and Gents, life is good.  I am the Creative Director for New Futuro.New Futuro provides Latino families with fully bilingual resources and tools to get students into college and beyond! We are committed to making you an education rockstar!  We will  teach you how to get into the college of your dreams with money to pay for it.  It's all about making the right classes at the right time, knowing the right people, and getting involved with the right groups.  College is your future,  so why should it be a challenge to get there?  New Futuro will help you achieve your dreams through education! Read more about my #awesome creative team here.

tags: College, education, Latinos, New Futuro
categories: Chicago, identity, Latina, Maya Escobar, Pop Culture, vida
Tuesday 03.27.12
Posted by maya escobar
 

AMerican MEdia Output in New Jersey

You saw Escobar-Morales as promo models in TX, "promoting" Arizona Tourism...And here we are as marketing executives in NJ.Andria was live at Gallery Aferro and I skyped in from Chicago.Stay tuned for more details on the performance and the results from AMerican MEdia Output's #targetaudiencesurvey.

tags: AMerican MEdia Output, Andria Morales, Arizona, Escobar-Morales, Gallery Aferro, New Jersey, New News is Old News, Performance Art, Promo Model, Skype, Texas, Tourism, Wonder Women Residency
categories: Art, artista, curatorial, exhibition, immigration, Latina, Maya Escobar, Performance, political, social media, vida, women
Tuesday 05.17.11
Posted by maya escobar
 

AMerican MEdia Output in Texas

[youtube=http://youtu.be/CMDhowuCwDE]AMericanMEdiaOutput.comtwitterFacebookLInkedIn

tags: AMerican MEdia Output, Arizona, Escobar-Morales, marketing, Performance Art, Promo Models, Texas, Tourism
categories: contmporary art, curatorial, identity, Latina, Performance, political
Wednesday 05.11.11
Posted by maya escobar
 

Negotiating Latina Identity through Performance Art on the Web

Andria and I will be presenting  Are You My Other? next week at the 2011 National Popular Culture Association Conference in San Antonio, TX.

Negotiating Latina Identity through Performance Art on the Webwith Maya Escobar and Andria Morales

Challenging mainstream and academic representations of Latina identity, performance artists Maya Escobar and Andria Morales publicly negate, deconstruct, and reconstruct their individual histories, identities, and conceptions of self. In their current project Are You My Other? a self-portrait dialog exchange blog, Escobar and Morales draw from popular culture, Latino/a cultural iconography, and their lived experiences to create and virtually perform conflicting representations of Latina selves. From devoted homemaker to hockey player, reggaetonera to construction worker, conceptual artist to human corn on the cob, the artists model the multiplicity of identity.

Due to their shared physical similarities, followers of their online exchange often mistake Escobar and Morales for one another. The merging of their identities is further perpetuated through their activities on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. By locating these performances within the space of the web, where they are free from restrictions of time and place, the artists are able to concurrently enact multiple personas while simultaneously forming a unified (Latina) hybrid self.

tags: Andria Morales, Are You My Other?, conference, Escobar-Morales, Maya Escobar, PCA/ACA
categories: Are You My Other, Art, Latina, Pop Culture, social media
Thursday 04.14.11
Posted by maya escobar
 

Entrevista en Sí Se Puede

an example of my Internet ArtLast week I had the on honor of being interviewed by my papi on Sí Se Puede. We talked about Internet art, the implications of growing up online, linguistic performances on twitter, public vs private, and more.If you missed it you can listen here:[audio http://mayaescobar.com/Maya%20Escobar%20-%203-6-2011.mp3]

tags: arte, espanol, Gonzalo Escobar, Internet Art, latism, Si Se Puede
categories: artista, Latina, Maya Escobar, news, Sí Se Puede, twitter, vida
Monday 03.07.11
Posted by maya escobar
 

Andria, The Fat Free Elotera, and I are featured in JEWCY

Maya Escobar in JewcyJewcy Art: Maya Escobarby Margarita Korol, February 24, 2011

In 2007 we dubbed her the Anti-Feminist Feminist Jewish Latina. We stumbled upon performance artist/ Internet curator/ editor Maya Escobar again at the GA in New Orleans where her video installations were making a Marina Abramovich-style scene near Jewcy’s booth. She uses the web as a platform for engaging in critical community dialogues that concern processes by which identities are socially and culturally constructed. She performs multiple identities, sampling widely from online representations of existing cultural discourses.

click here for full text

tags: AMerican MEdiaOutput, Andria Morales, Are You My Other?, Escobar-Morales, Jewcy Magazine, Marina Abramovich, screenshot, The Fat Free Elotera
categories: Art, curatorial, intertextual, Jewish Life in America, Judaism, Latina, Maya Escobar, vida
Thursday 02.24.11
Posted by maya escobar
 

GO PUBLIC

"Viaja con Aerolíneas Públicas" ¿Estás cansado de ser perfilado, acosado y tener que mostrar tu identificación cuando vas a, bueno a… cualquier lugar? Vuela en Aerolíneas Públicas y el control de seguridad en tu aeropuerto local será el último lugar donde te pedirán tus papeles. Aerolíneas Públicas vuela sin escalas a destinos amigables como Nueva Jersey, Illinois y el suroeste de Pennsylvania. Te garantizamos que tú mantendrás tu tarjeta de identificación en tu cartera siempre. VIAJA CON AEREOLÍNEAS PÚBLICAS.

@PublicAirways

“Go Public.” Tired of being profiled, harassed and carded on your way to, well… anywhere? Fly Public Airways and the security checkpoint at your local airport will be the last place anyone asks to see your ID. Public Airways flies non-stop to friendly destinations like New Jersey, Illinois and Southeastern Pennsylvania. We guarantee you’ll keep your card in your wallet for good. GO PUBLIC.

@PublicAirways

tags: Aerolíneas Públicas, AMerican MEdia Ouput, Latinos, Public Airways, SB1070, Travel
categories: identity, intertextual, Latina, Performance Text, vida
Wednesday 02.02.11
Posted by maya escobar
 

Why did you have to pick this weekend to be a Chicano?

Mayra RamirezMayra Ramirez makes my heart pitter patter....(here is a repost of one of her latest posts on her blog Hella Breezys)

It's hard for me to fully express my disappointment and frustration with Arizona's law makers... last week they passed HB 2281 witch bans "Ethnic Studies" in the states K-12 grade classrooms. I cannot emphasize how important it is to be able to learn about the history of our peoples, of our ancestors, and to be able to find pride and empowerment in that. It's such a sad and scary time in both Arizona and the country. Here is a great article about HB 2281 that I found very interesting...

So now I want to share my favorite Save by the Bell episode where Slater finds his Chicano Power!!! I feel it's a great example of why having Ethnic Studies in our classrooms is so crucial...

FUCK ARIZONA'S ETHNOCENTRIC LAWS... WE NEED TO FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO LEARN OUR HISTORY, OUR CULTURE AND THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OUR RAZA... TIERRA, JUSTICIA, Y LIBERTAD!!!

RIGHT ON MAYRA!!![youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0wvG3RMKPc][youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih1Qmq5Ie5k]And be sure to check out her collaboration with the always amazing Rio Yañez

tags: AC Slater, Arizona, chicano, chola, Ethnic Studies, HB 2281, Hella Breezys, Mario Lopez, Mayra Ramirez, Rio Yañez, SB 1070, Zack Morris
categories: artista, curatorial, identity, Latina, new media art, Talented Female Artists, vida
Thursday 01.13.11
Posted by maya escobar
 

Gallery of Gifs pt 2

If you enjoyed Gallery of Gifs (pt 1) check out these bad boys:(click images to view posts on Are You My Other?)

tags: Andria Morales, animated gif, deal with it, Internet Art, Maya Escobar, Mayonesa, Performance Art, The Fat Free Elotera
categories: Are You My Other, Art, curatorial, humor, Latina, new media art
Wednesday 01.05.11
Posted by maya escobar
 

Explosion of Latina Bloggers

LATINAS ARE EVERYWHERE!click image to watch video on Today Mom'sCheck out interview with Blogueras Carrie Ferguson Weir of TikiTikiBlog.com and Bilingual In The Boonies, Melanie Edwards of ModernMami.com and Ana Flores of SpanglishBaby.com at BlogHer.And don't miss post on Wired Latinos on Blogs by Latinas founder Monique Frausto.

tags: Ana Flores, BlogHer, blogosphere, Blogs by Latinas, Blogueras, Carrie Ferguson Weir, latism, Melanie Edwards, Modern Mami, mujeres, social media, Spanglish Baby, Tiki Tiki, Today Mom, Wired Latinos
categories: blogging, identity, Latina, women
Saturday 08.07.10
Posted by maya escobar
 

Savvy Latina: Smart. Sexy. Stylish.

Recently I had the honor of being featured on Savvy Latina.

Savvy Latina is more than just an online publication; it’s a lifestyle.Savvy Latina is here to fill a void for today’s successful, stylized & sophisticated Latina. Savvy Latina is dedicated to keeping in step and following topics important to today’s Latina.Savvy Latina offers in-depth coverage of key figures in Latino culture, entertainments rising and accomplished stars, business leaders, politicians, policy makers and the Savviest Latinas.Image is everything but knowledge is the key. Savvy Latina is dedicated to keeping Today’s Latina looking good and well informed with the newest and latest. Savvy Latina’s mission is to make sure today’s Latina has a source dedicated to just who she is, a publication with a wealth of information on various topics important as well as entertaining to her.Savvy Latina was founded by a Latina and dedicated to Latinas with traditional beliefs but that are also craving some of the finer things in life that are well deserved as a result of our hard work and dedication we have put in to advance not only themselves but Latinas as a whole socially and economically.Today’s Latinas are not only influencing but are now directing government policy, business practices, arts, entertainment, fashion and a whole lot more.We are proud to present to you Savvy Latina. We hope you love it as much as we do.

tags: online publication, savvy latina, screenshot, Sexy Latina, wise latina
categories: artista, curatorial, Latina, Maya Escobar, women
Saturday 07.24.10
Posted by maya escobar
 

el es frida kahlo at the gallery

frida-kahlo-at-bruno-david-gallery.jpg

el es frida kahlo is currently on view in the New Media Room at the Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis, MO.

el es frida kahlo

el es frida kahlo, 2007-present

Frida Kahlo played with the identity that she wanted to project and the identity that was placed on her by others. Kahlo used her clothing, political affiliations, sexual escapades, and personal traumas, to create a character that informed her body of work. She inscribed her identity, painting her image over and over, constructing a mythology around her persona.

In el es frida kahlo I confront the ambivalence I experience as a result of my simultaneous obsession with Frida Kahlo and weariness towards her commodification. Viewed from a tiny pinhole, dressed as Kahlo, I stand before a reproduction of one of her self portraits. With a mixture of rage, anxiety, and complete fear, I chant “el es Frida Kahlo, ella es Frida Kahlo, el es Frida Kahlo, yo soy, yo soy, yo soy Frida Kahlo,” he is Frida Kahlo, she is Frida Kahlo, I am, I am, I am Frida Kahlo. As I yell, the painting behind me begins to fall. I violently tear down my braids and smudge off my makeup while continuing to scream “I am Frida Kahlo, I am Frida Kahlo, yo soy Frida Kahlo!”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BJmaYn5IIE]

el es frida kahlo at the Bruno David Gallery (video filmed and edited by Felicia Chen)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlMPoFXRT18]

el es frida kahlo YouTube video

FREE el es frida kahlo animated gif avaliable on MayaEscobar.com

link to translation of recent review by David Sperber in Ma’arav Israeli Arts and Culture Magazine:

Frida Kahlo at the synagogue: Maya Escobar and the young Jewish-American Creation

tags: animated gif, Bruno David Gallery, conceptual art, contemporary art, David Sperber, el es frida kahlo, Frida Kahlo, gallery, hypertext, Internet Art, Maya Escobar, new media, Performance Art, st- louis, video, video art, YouTube artist
categories: Art, artista, contmporary art, culture, exhibition, identity, Latina, new media art, news, Performance, Performance Text, Stereotype, YouTube
Friday 02.05.10
Posted by maya escobar
 

Latina Women Respond

Recently Latina Role Model was featured on TikiTiki Blog: stories with cultura, color and sabor, in a post by Carrie Ferguson Weir called Smart Latina vs. Sexy Latina.  Carrie asked readers:

So, has your Smart Latina run up against the Sexy Latina? What do you see when you watch Maya’s video? What does it bring up for you? Why can’t we be both Smart and Sexy? Let’s talk about this, break it down, maybe shatter some stereotypes, and bust our own too.

Check out the PROFOUND difference in the nature of the comments left on this post (comments posted below) vs the ones left on YouTube.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_1X1igrL4U]my contribution to post on Tiki Tiki:

I perform over-the-top representations of different identities. I group together these representations (characters) as a means of challenging limited perspectives of what women are like, and in this case, what Latina women are like.

This character is supposed to be an intellectual, accomplished, socially conscious woman- who will forever be seen as the “Sexy Latina.” The low quality video blog is meant to mock scenes in movies, where the hot high school teacher walks down the hall and all the boys undress her in their minds.

But I am not taking a negative or positive stance either. I want to question the role Latinas play in perpetuating this persona, and question if that is even a bad thing? Are we limiting ourselves by continuing to have this same conversation, even though the behavior persists, are we enforcing it by bring more attention to it?

I haven't always been so impartial. Out of all of the characters in Acciones Plásticas, The Latina Role Model is the one I identified with the most.  My original description of the way this character was perceived by others was much more reactionary and much angrier than it is now. (see below)

The Sexy Latina© from Acciones Plásticas free (stereotype) postcard, 2007

The Sexy Latina© is an educated woman who cares about important social and political issues. She wears suggestive provocative clothing to compensate for giving up her role as a homemaker. She uses her sexuality to obtain positions in the work world.

Latina Role Model from Acciones Plásticas プリクラ 2009

Over the last two years this character has really evolved. Here is the new description of The Latina Role Model, re-imagined as part of my Acciones Plásticas プリクラ collaboration with artist Rio Yañez:

The Latina Role Model is a diploma totin’ intellectual, sexy, social media goddess.

What do you think?  How does the earlier description of The Sexy Latina© differ from this new description of The Latina Role Model?  How do these two images relate to the Latina Role Model YouTube video?

  • Sra. López says:
    January 21, 2010 at 8:52 am

    This is an excellent post and an excellent video. It really does make you think.I am really not qualified to speak from a “Latina perspective” on this topic because I am Anglo. (If you read my blog, you’ll know I’m Sra. López only because I married a Salvadoran.)That being the case, I can’t speak from personal experience on Latina stereotypes, but I would like to contribute an opinion or two on topics that are pretty closely related.For example, it really bothers me that the Latinas picked as reporters and journalists on Univision and Telemundo seem to be more for the purposes of eye candy than to report the news and add intelligent commentary — not that they aren’t intelligent women, but I think the sexism by the head honchos over there is pretty evident, not just on the news, but on other programming as well… And English language channels aren’t always much better. I think Western women in general – no matter what their race, fight very hard to overcome the sense that we are valued more as objects of sex/beauty, than for what’s inside.It’s very frustrating and I don’t envy the difficult job many women have of raising daughters in this world. (I have 2 sons) … With my own self esteem issues, I can’t imagine what a challenge it would be to raise a girl who is confident in herself and who doesn’t let Hollywood, fashion magazines, men, or even other females, get her down.I don’t know the solution to achieving true equality, but I think talking about it all is a good start.

  • Angelica Perez says:
    January 21, 2010 at 10:58 am

    Very interesting…The role model I immediately identified with was the socially-conscious, smart role model, which made me realize how loaded that role is. Being an accomplished and educated Latina comes with so many expectations — the whole giving back to the community, serving your community, being a role model and mentor for others, etc. — that’s not something that an accomplished non-Latina woman has to worry about (or feel committed to).With regards to the sexy role model — I always say that there is no sexier woman than the one that exudes confidence in herself and who she is — the sexy clothes are just extras…Great conversation…

  • Latina Role Model on Tiki Tiki « Maya Escobar says:
    January 21, 2010 at 11:50 am

    [...] Tiki Tiki: Stories with Cultura, Color and Sabor, thanks to post by Carrie Ferguson Weir entitled  Smart Latina vs Sexy Latina. Check out the post and be sure to leave your [...]

  • Ana Lilian says:
    January 21, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    I guess I just never even thought of myself as the Sexy Latina…but a cute one yes! LOL! But once I´m on the dance floor, then the sexy comes out and it´s all good.But,seriously, I guess I just lack the perceived-Latina sassy-ness as I´ve never felt that bias towards me.I will definitely agree with dear Sra. López that the media, especially the Hispanic media, is completely promoting the hot Latina stereotype, and not much of the smart Latina one. Why do their “news” anchors feel they need to have their breast augmented to be taken seriously?

  • Kikita says:
    January 21, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    I think it is inherent in our culture to be “hot” in every sense of the word because we are so passionate.I love what Maya was trying to accomplish and say with her video, but I found that she couldn’t hide or deny her Latin sensuality even when she was trying to play the part of an “intellectual, accomplished, socially conscious woman.”This DID make me stop and think, but what I realized is that I tend to shoot for a 3rd type. I go for “Classy Latina.” You know, the one that can wear the big hoops and sexy top with a pant suit. Someone like Ingrid Hoffman or Karla Martinez.

  • C. Morales says:
    January 21, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    My impression is that Latina women play into the stereotype because Latino men often expect them to, and they are threatened by a smart woman. It is not just non-Latino men who expect a mujer caliente and nothing more.

  • Liz says:
    January 21, 2010 at 5:09 pm

    How you project yourself, depends on you, no matter what. I, like Ana, never felt that I was looked at differently because I am Latina. I don’t see my self as a Sexy, Hot, Latina(I hope my husband does, though). Hell, I’m 33, been married for 12 years, and have 3 kids. I don’t get “chifles” anymore… ): LOL!This is directed towards the younger, single generation. How they present themselves as the future “Latina Generation”, depends on how they are raised. It’s up to us, as moms, to teach our daughters to go and be the BEST they can be. It’s up to me to raise my daughter to know what it right from wrong. Do guys really still think that girls are still destined to be “home/baby makers? Really??Forget Hollywood. Forget the Media. Heck, forget the evening news. If those ladies felt that they need to have their lady lumps hanging out in order to get the job, then I feel sorry for them. But, it is what it is.I will raise my daughter to know that education is the key to being classy and sexy! Not exposed Humps and Lady Lumps! Also, I will raise my boys to see women and they see themselves. Whether they marry a Latina or not.Ay, me pase de mas! he he!

  • SUZ says:
    January 21, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    A smart and fun video commentary on the stereotypes of women in general…the educated intellectual, the hot babe, the innocent women. I like that Maya uses humor to deflect the extremes. Also that she creates a fine line between integrating the different role types. This is interesting because everyone is never just one thing…but we may choose to identify one way.

  • Melissa Garcia Logan says:
    January 21, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    I think it’s part of a male dominated culture. Many women have this problem of having to manage male expectations in their professional lives, whether it is living with objectification or men projecting their need for nurturing from any woman they meet. I’ve had jobs where men thought it was okay to flirt with me and expected me to fulfill some messed up hot secretary fantasy, and I’ve had jobs where men I worked with expected me to be maternal and when I was driven, I was labeled aggressive. I’m not a dog, I’m not a hooker, and I’m definitely not your mother, guys.I think we have to teach men when they’re children that women can fill many roles and to expect them to be as capable and androgynous as any man performing the same duties. By the same token, I don’t know how I feel about using gender or sexuality as an asset to get ahead, my feeling is that anything you do that is manipulative in nature, is skirting unethical, if not flat out crossing the line.Having a sense of humor about stereotypes though, I don’t know if I see a problem as long as you don’t go too far and reinforce them. If it’s clear it’s a joke and part of the joke is how ridiculous stereotypical behavior really is…

  • Carrie says:
    January 22, 2010 at 8:41 am

    I love the feedback, ladies. All great points and fabulous reflection.I am left wondering this, after reading Ana and Liz’s comments: Is stereotype/perception felt/seen at a greater level when we don’t live in predominately Latino communities?This comes to mind because your comments made me realize I never thought too much of my Latina side and my American side until I lived in cities where there weren’t a bunch of Cubans running around me everywhere. My otherness was apparent and pointed out. It was almost like, wow, I am different?Interesting!

  • Marta says:
    January 22, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    I don’t fit into the Sexy or Brainy Latina mold at all. Probably because I look very Anglo – light skin, blue eyes. I blend pretty seamlessly into my So Cal suburban life.Except for the Latina “chispa.” That’s always the big giveaway right there. =D

  • Liz says:
    January 22, 2010 at 5:24 pm

    Carrie,I emailed your post to my niece, whose studying at Penn State, this is what she had to say:Well, I agree with her lol. A lot of people especially here in Pennsylvania, see me as exotic because I’m Hispanic. They expect me to speak Spanish all of the time and a lot of them expect me to be kinda stupid and slutty. But when people get to know me, they find out that I’m extremely smart. Smarter than most people they encounter. And it sucks because I’m always having to prove myself to people and to teachers. But in the end, I’m the one that’s dropping jaws for my intellect and not for my attractiveness =)The end haha. Hope that helps.I am one PROUD Tia!!! (:

  • Carrie says:
    January 23, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    Liz, aha! Thank you for sending the post to your niece and validating my theory. I love how your niece wrote to you and the “stupid and slutty” line made me bust out laughing — especially because she obviously is not.Gracias, proud Tia!(Maybe she needs to write for the Tiki Tiki? hmmmm?)

  • Veronica says:
    January 23, 2010 at 6:19 pm

    Great video and excellent points.I think that this expectation for Latinas to appear sexy is one reason why I reject the hot mom movement. I wish there was just as much social pressure to be smart Latinas, smart moms, smart women as there is to be hot, sexy, etc.

tags: Acciones Plásticas, Carrie Ferguson Weir, collaboration, Hispanic, Internet Art, latina role model, latinas, mujeres, Performance Art, Rio Yañez, Sexy, Sexy Latina, smart, stereotypes, Tiki Tiki, wise latina
categories: Art, artista, feminist, identity, intertextual, Latina, Maya Escobar, new media art, Performance Text, Stereotype, women, YouTube
Wednesday 02.03.10
Posted by maya escobar
 

Latina Role Model on Tiki Tiki

Latina Role Model is on Tiki Tiki: Stories with Cultura, Color and Sabor, thanks to post by Carrie Ferguson Weir entitled  Smart Latina vs Sexy Latina. Check out the post and be sure to leave your responses!

Latina Role Model on Tiki Tiki

tags: Acciones Plásticas, artista, cultura, frames, Hispanic, Internet Art, latina role model, Latino Blogosphere, screenshot, Sexy Latina, Smart Latina, sterotypes, Tiki Tiki, women
categories: blogging, curatorial, feminist, identity, Latina, Maya Escobar, new media art, Performance, YouTube
Wednesday 01.20.10
Posted by maya escobar
 

behind the scenes acciones plásticas purikura

maya-with-frida-tat.jpg

The Latina HipsterThe Latina Role ModelThe Homegirl

Here are some behind the scenes images from the many Acciones Plásticas プリクラ photo shoots.

The Latina Hipster  (performance still)

The Latina Hipster

The Homegirl  (performance still)

The Homegirl

Becoming The Homegirl (performance still)

The Homegirl putting on fake nails (lovin' the shabbos candlesticks and theory books in the background)

The Avodah Girl (performance still)

The Avodah Girl

The 612er  (performance still)

The 612er

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Check out this inspiring write-up on Acciones Plásticas プリクラ on Truth and Healing Project.excerpt below:

goodness.   I’ve been thinking a lot about the intersections between new media and traditional forms of knowledge and how these intersections can be ways of supporting tradition, innovation, resistance and liberation.  As a media-maker, I’ve thought a lot about non-traditional forms of telling stories and the value of stories to allow us as individuals and communities  to grow and remain in movement.  I want to both  honor our traditions and create space for challenge in order to support growth.   This is particularly challenging when, as indigenos, we are usually FORCED  into the frozen stance (as my sister Whisper says)  of the “American Imaginary”.    Born out of a flat analysis, the “American Imaginary”  boxes us into specific archetypes and narratives that,  though perhaps grounded in truth,  metaphorically and at times literally  “freeze” us and immobilize us from engaging in healthy movement and LIFE.  As a guatemalan-born/ mixed -id’d/ mayan-adoptee I’ve  dreamed about new and innovative ways to create forums and craft form that embodies the intersections of say,  mayan id, transracial queer, working class, single teen mama id.   For example, as a queerasfuck femme I’ve LITERALLY dreamed of beginning a series of corsets created out of huipil’s with stories attached to each… though I have yet to begin work on that.  I am so excited by the thoughts of spaces for dialogue, beauty, challenge & examination of the COMPLEX identities embodies by the our contemporary indigena communities. .  Fierce and phenomenal chicana and radical latina artists  have had HUGE impacts on me but I’ve been hungry to see this come from other guatemelan/ mayan artists.  Today, I got a taste of a  contemporary and GUATEMALAN artist who is  actively engaged in a similar examination!  I came across this blog (and art work)  and it was as if an answer was given to me in the form of possibilities.  A sweet affirmation that this form of mayan/guatemalan  art CAN and DOES exist.

tags: Acciones Plásticas, artist, chicano, collaboration, guatemalan, latina stereotypes, Mayan, Performance Art, purikura, queer, Rio Yañez, The 612er, The Avodah Girl, The homegirl, The Jewess Blogging Queen, The Latina Hipster, The Latina Role Model, truth and healing project
categories: Art, artista, contmporary art, feminist, Frida Kahlo, humor, identity, Judaism, Latina, Maya Escobar, new media art, Performance, women
Wednesday 01.13.10
Posted by maya escobar
 

acciones plásticas goes プリクラ chicano style

the-homegirl.jpg

Acciones Plásticas プリクラ

Acciones Plásticas プリクラ is a collaboration between artists Maya Escobar and Rio Yañez.

The Latina Hipstera bad-ass Morrissey-lovin’, tuff-girl sexy chicaThe Latina Role Modela diploma totin’ intellectual, sexy, social media goddessThe Homegirla hybridized version of Escobar’s Midwestern Chach and Yañez’s West Coast Chola.In Acciones Plásticas Escobar created a multi-faceted “doll” by assuming the role of designer and distributor, and even posing as the actual doll itself.  Each doll was a satirical characterization of some of the many roles that have been projected upon her, and into which she has, at points, inevitably fallen. In conjunction with these images, she developed a short series of low-definition youtube video blogs through which she inhabits the lives of “real women” who have each been visibly defined by societal constructs.Recently, Yañez has been utilizing Japanese photobooths (known as Purikura or “print-club”) as an artist’s tool for creating portraits. These booths are much more common in Japan than their United States counterparts. As a catalyst for creative expression and social interaction they are used primarily by young urban Japanese girls. A standard feature in all Purikura booths allows the user to digitally decorate their portraits after they take them. The options are vast and include wild characters, excessive starbursts of light, pre-made phrases and the option to draw your own text directly on the image. Purikura gives the subjects near-divine powers of self-expression in crafting their own portraits.The two artists who met over the web, decided to bring together Escobar’s highly charged and evocative Acciones Plásticas characters with Yanez’s notorious Chicano graphic-art style and new found obsession with Purikura images, as a way of addressing the construction of Latina identities.Maya posed as The Latina Hipster: a bad-ass Morrissey-lovin’, tuff-girl sexy chica; The Latina Role Model: a diploma totin’ intellectual, sexy, social media goddess; and finally, The Homegirl: a hybridized version of Escobar’s Midwestern Chach (or Chachi Mama) and Yañez’s West Coast Chola. Maya sent digital images to Rio, who in turn drew portraits of her as each of these constructed identities. He approached each portrait with a Purikura sensibility and decorated them each as the characters represented might accessorize themselves. The final series of portraits is the result of negotiating multiple identities and influences. Guatemalan, Jewish, and Chicano sensibilities reflected back through a Japanese Purikura aesthetic. Acciones Plásticas プリクラ challenge and question the thin line between archetype and stereotype. The Purikura elements present the novel signifiers of each social construct represented in the series.This collaboration is the first of many to come as Maya and Rio explore the commonalities and differences of their cultural identities.For more information on Acciones Plásticas プリクラcheck out Rio's blog and stay tuned for guest post by seeNoga aka Carianne Noga on meeting the Chach Homegirl in real life.(video of the Chach featured below)[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj3Q42YF40Y]

tags: Acciones Plásticas, Carinanne Noga, Chach, chica, chicano, chola, collaboration, hipster, homegirl, latina hipster, latina role model, midwestern, Nuevos Compañeros, purikura, Rio Yañez, seenoga, Sotomayor, stereotypes, west coast, wise latina
categories: Art, contmporary art, culture, Frida Kahlo, humor, identity, Latina, Maya Escobar, new media art, Performance, Stereotype, women, YouTube
Sunday 11.01.09
Posted by maya escobar
 

Mercedes Sosa y Shakira

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLWiFivak1c]Mercedes Sosa y Shakira grabando La Maza

tags: Argentina, La Maza, Mercedes Sosa, music, Shakira, YouTube
categories: culture, Latina
Friday 10.09.09
Posted by maya escobar
 
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