Ester Hernandez
[14] In Libertad, Hernandez reimagines the Statue of Liberty, an iconic American symbol, to reclaim the history of the Americas and uplift the presence of natives peoples.
[1] In this serigraph, the artist turns the widely recognized red-bonneted female figure carrying a basket of grapes on the Sun-Maid raisin box into a skeleton to visually protest insecticides.
[18] Describing this image, Hernandez states, "Slowly I began to realize how to transform the Sun Maid and unmask the truth behind the wholesome figures of agribusiness.
"[19] This image is featured in a 1989 installation titled Sun Mad that is dedicated to the artist's father who was a farm worker from the San Joaquin Valley, California.
[21] The slikscreen print replicates the pattern and textures of a traditional Guatemalan rebozo (shawl) but also includes small white images of helicopters, skeletons, and red blood splatters.
[7] This print portrays a woman with a short punk-style haircut facing away from spectators while showcasing La Virgen de Guadalupe tattooed on her back.
[23] By depicting this tattoo on a woman, Vincent Carillo argues that Hernández "questions the gendered power dynamics" that restrict women to the domestic sphere.
[24] In 2001, Hernández created La Virgen de las Calles (Virgin of the Streets), a pastel print, to represent the hard working Latina women in a glorified and divine perspective.
La Virgen de las Calles was special to Hernández because it was important for her to depict the love a Chicana mother has for her family, and how many Chicana mothers just like the one in this piece “‘…[often] work day and night to educate their children because they know this is the greatest gift a parent can give a child.’"[21] BudaLupe is a mixed media acrylic painting with Japanese paper college that depicts both the image of the Budha and image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
[28] Hernandez reimagines the classic Sun Mad to condemn the high amounts of workplace raids and the creation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the administration of George W. Bush on the grounds of “national security”.
[29] Sun Raid references this national security strategy as a consequence of globalization, stating it as a “by-product of NAFTA”, the North American Free Trade Agreement that went into effect in 1994.
[30] Using visual signifiers such as huipil clothing the skeletal figure, and a wrist monitor that says “ICE”, Hernandez connects the effects of globalization to the forced economic and physical displacement of various indigenous communities that made up a portion of undocumented immigrants largely affected by these national security strategies.
The goddess, Yoruba in origin, is representative of many different cultures, and is often associated with or linked to worship of The Virgin Mary (or La Virgen de Guadalupe) in Latin American practices.
