Yreina Cervantez (born 1952) is an American artist and Chicana activist who is known for her multimedia painting,[1] murals, and printmaking.
[7] Her childhood was spent in culturally segregated, rural areas and exposure to the conservative attitude of these neighborhoods inspired Cervantez to later join the Chicana/o movement.
[6] A founding member of the Los Angeles art collective Self Help Graphics, Cervantez spent six years working for this non-profit dedicated to supporting community artwork.
[5] Cervantez's work often includes a rich visual vocabulary that draws inspiration from pre-Columbian history, Central American politics, the urban landscape of Los Angeles and sometimes herself, as a viewer of what she is painting.
[6] Cervantez uses much of this type of iconography of the past in order to update the symbols and create a modern feminist perspective.
"[12] Cervantez's art is also concerned with helping the viewer recognize that Chicanos are already in their own "ancestral homelands" and are actually not "immigrants" to the United States.
[6] Alongside artist Judy Baca, she was involved with designing and painting part of The Great Wall of Los Angeles, which is thought to be the longest mural in the world.
Most notably, in the mural Cervantez places the contemporaneous iconography of activism in juxtaposition with Latina, Chicana, and Indigenous women who are often excluded from the discourse of a social justice movement.