Garcia Ruiz, Victoria

Victoria Garcia Ruiz 

Brown Pride 

9x12 

Multimedia 

$60 

Bio: My name is Victoria Ruiz, I’ve been creating artwork for 2 years. I like creating artwork that I feel passionate about and artwork that symbolizes me and mostly about my culture. I'm a Chicana artist from Arizona, who is very proud of her family and their history. I am especially thankful to my Pa because he is the one who taught me about being Chicana and having pride in our identities. 

Artist Statement: My work showcases three periods in history that really made and led to Chicano culture, from the time of the Aztecs to Pachucos and finally to our modern time. I wanted to create a piece to show how we came. Starting with our origins and with continuing to our present time. I am still learning about my Chicana culture and the history of it. Everything I find out is powerful and shapes who I am. I love spreading the information about being Chicana and the struggle that Chicanos went through in my artwork. For example, in this piece I drew a large group of people in the foreground because I wanted to show that many people were positively affected by the brave choices that our Chicano leaders have made. I represented the leaders as a Pachuco, an Aztec warrior, and a contemporary Chicano. I did this intentionally to show the viewer that all three have brought us to our current powerful state of being. In the background, I blended the Mexican flag with the Chicano flag to show that there should be no question of how Mexican Chicanos actually are. Our roots are in Mexico, even though we are currently “Americans.” We have not forgotten our origins, as we are deeply rooted in our history and culture.