Chicanismo emerged as the cultural consciousness behind the Chicano Movement. The central aspect of Chicanismo is the identification of Chicanos with their Indigenous American roots to create an affinity with the notion that they are native to the land rather than immigrants. Chicanismo brought a new sense of nationalism for Chicanos that extended the notion of family to all Chicano people. Barrios, or working-class neighborhoods, became the cultural hubs for the people. It created a symbolic connection to the ancestral ties of Mesoamerica and the Nahuatl language through the situating of Aztlán, the ancestral home of the Aztecs, in the southwestern United States. Chicanismo also rejected Americanization and assimilation as a form of cultural destruction of the Chicano people, fostering notions of Brown Pride. Xicanisma has been referred to as an extension of Chicanismo.
The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican descent, especially of Pachucos in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Black Power movement, that worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation. Before this, Chicano/a had been a term of derision, adopted by some Pachucos as an expression of defiance to Anglo-American society. With the rise of Chicanismo, Chicano/a became a reclaimed term in the 1960s and 1970s, used to express political autonomy, ethnic and cultural solidarity, and pride in being of Indigenous descent, diverging from the assimilationist Mexican-American identity. Chicanos also expressed solidarity and defined their culture through the development of Chicano art during El Movimiento, and stood firm in preserving their religion.
Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia, better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is a Chicano poet and activist. His work was influential in the Chicano Movement and is important to the field of Chicano poetry.
Chicano poetry is a subgenre of Chicano literature that stems from the cultural consciousness developed in the Chicano Movement. Chicano poetry has its roots in the reclamation of Chicana/o as an identity of empowerment rather than denigration. As a literary field, Chicano poetry emerged in the 1960s and formed its own independent literary current and voice.
The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements 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 which began in the 1960s.
Yreina Cervantez is an American artist and Chicana activist who is known for her multimedia painting, murals, and printmaking. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Mexican Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.
Xavier Garza is an author and illustrator of children's books and professor of art at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio.
Demetria Martinez is an American activist, poet, and novelist.
Delilah Montoya is a contemporary artist and educator who was born in Fort Worth, Texas and was raised in Omaha, Nebraska by her Anglo-American father and Latina mother. She earned her BA, MA and MFA from the University of New Mexico. Her art is noted for its exploration of Chicana identity and for innovative printmaking and photographic processes. She is also noted for her use of mixed-media installations and often incorporates iconic religious symbols in her pieces. Montoya divides her time between Albuquerque and Houston. She taught at the University of New Mexico, Institute of American Indian Arts and California State University before accepting her current position at the University of Houston. She was a 2008 Artadia awardee.
Mark Sink is an American photographer best known for romantic portraiture. Some of his most recognizable images include documentation of life and work of artists such as Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat, Rene Ricard and other artists from the New York art scene of the 1980s, before returning to Denver. Mark Sink has been exhibiting his work professionally since 1978 to the present day from street art, commercial galleries, museums and other institutions.
Nicole Anona Banowetz is a Denver based artist who is known for creating giant inflatable sculpture of microscopic creatures. Her work has been shown internationally appearing in shows in the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan, and Poland. Her works frequently appears at festivals around the world.
Katie Taft is a Denver based artist, photographer, and teacher. Raised in Boulder, Colorado, she left the state for college, eventually earning her BFA at Marylhurst University in Oregon where she studied photography. She returned to Colorado in 2004. Taft is best known for her Imaginary Friends series of artworks featuring hybrid creature creations photographed in various locations.
Denver's Art District on Santa Fe (ADSF) is a nationally known arts and cultural district, encompassing hundreds of artists, galleries, studios, theaters, and creative businesses along Santa Fe Drive in Denver, Colorado. ADSF is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit membership organization.
Carlota D.d.R EspinoZa is an American painter, muralist, and activist in her Art. She is one of the early Latina / Chicana muralists in Denver with works in Cuba, San Francisco, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado.
Chicana art as a specific genre emerged as part of the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and used art to express political and social resistance. Through different art mediums both past and contemporary, Chicana artists explore and interrogate traditional Mexican-American values and embody feminist themes through different mediums including murals, painting, photography, and more. The momentum created from the Chicano Movement spurred a Chicano Renaissance among Chicanas and Chicanos. Political art was created by poets, writers, playwrights, and artists and used to defend against their oppression and societal marginalization. During the 1970s, Chicana feminist artists differed from their Anglo-feminist counterparts in the way they collaborated. Chicana feminist artists often utilized artistic collaborations and collectives that included men, while Anglo-feminist artists generally utilized women-only participants.
Alicia Cardenas was an Indigenous Mexican American tattoo artist and muralist in Denver's tattoo scene who was noted for being a Chicana feminist artist in a male-centric career. She owned the Sol Tribe tattoo shop, which had been a longstanding feature of Denver. She was featured in a documentary on Chicano muralism by the Chicano Murals of Colorado Project referred to as "These Storied Walls." In her community she was known as "Mama Matriarch." At the age of 44 she was murdered in a mass shooting, along with four other people.
Laura Phelps Rogers is a sculptor who works with bronze, iron, and other metal fabrication techniques, as well as photography and site-specific installations.
Sarah McKenzie is an American painter born in Greenwich, Connecticut. She has had numerous solo exhibitions, most notably with Denver's David B. Smith Gallery, New York's Jen Bekman Gallery, and the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. Her paintings have been included in group exhibitions at the Walker Art Center, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Yale School of Architecture, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and the Aspen Art Museum.
Angélica Becerra is an activist visual artist who primarily works in watercolor and digital media.
José Esquivel was a Chicano artist and activist based in San Antonio, Texas who was known for his work in challenging Anglo-American stereotypes of Mexican Americans and life in Chicano barrios. His work was connected to the Chicano Movement and it is included in various prominent collections. Esquivel was also a co-founder of the Con Safo art group.
