3.4: “Remembering Artist and Activist Yolanda M. López” -- Tey Marianna Nunn

“López painted and printed art where we found ourselves reflected. Through her paintings and prints, she transformed and reinterpreted images . . . She also intervened with racist stereotypes like the traditional figure with a sombrero sleeping against a cactus. She even created a film on the topic of Mexican ethnic stereotypes. López turned this traditional imagery on their heads and in doing so, directly addressed societal issues inside and outside her Chicano community.”

While most of the texts we’ve engaged with in this book have been alphabetic–stories, essays, poems, speeches, etc.--the term “text” is much broader than alphabetics. Instead, it can include compositions such as artwork and other visuals. These types of texts call for the same form of critical and reflexive reading as the other writing that we encounter. To practice this form of reading in response to visual texts, note your initial interpretation of the text below:

Historical Background

This text depicts the “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster, which was created in 1916 by illustrator James Montgomery Flagg and published on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly magazine. It was accompanied by the title “What Are You Doing for Preparedness?” Although the United States did not enter World War I until the following year, this text was eventually adapted by the U.S. Army as a poster that included the obvious call to action to join the war efforts. According to Knauer’s (2017) interpretation of the image, “Uncle Sam' points an accusing finger of moral responsibility in a recruitment poster for the American forces during World War I . . . . World War I produced one of the most memorable images in American history: the U.S. Army recruiting poster that depicts a commanding Uncle Sam pointing his finger at the viewer and urging young men to enlist in the war effort.”

Based on both the background information that you have about this text and the visual elements of the image that you can observe, note your thoughts in response to these questions:

After Reading

1.What is the purpose and the message of this text? How do you know?

2.Which visual elements of the image contribute to that message? Provide examples.

3.Which values does this represent? In which ways is it trying to persuade the viewer?

4.How does this text position you as a viewer/reader? How does it accomplish that?

 

 

Art as Social Activism

Now that you’ve viewed and interpreted the “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster, consider the image here, which is a drawing by artist Yolanda López from 1978.

The artwork is titled “Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?” and was included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibition ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now. Lopez created this drawing in response to the “immigration plan created by President Jimmy Carter” which was current at the time of the text’s production. Based on this brief historical background, make some observations about the text in the space provided below.

Textual Analysis

1. Which details do you observe in this text? List them.

2. Which features of the text are most striking to you?

3. What do you think the a) purpose and b) message of this text might be?

4. Why might the “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster be an effective text to replicate in order to convey Lopez’ message?

5. How does this text make you feel and how does it position you as a viewer/reader?

 

Now that you’ve recorded your own analysis of the visual text, consider Nunn’s (2021) interpretation of Lopez’ drawing. Nunn notes that the drawing is a play on the “imagery of World War II era broadsides. In this work from 1978, she replaces Uncle Sam with an Indigenous warrior crushing anti-immigration plans. By using patriotic imagery, López argues immigration is a key social justice issue. The central figure addresses the viewer as ‘pilgrim.’ ” How does Nunn’s (2021) interpretation of the image compare with your own?

As you know, Lopez’s image was created in response to United States’ federal policy regarding immigration, which perhaps made the “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster–another text that responded to national issues, specifically war recruitment efforts–an effective choice for the message of this text. In this way, both texts are fundamentally linked to one another. Without knowledge of the “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster, we would lack the necessary background that is required to read Lopez’s “Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?” drawing as a form of social critique and action.

Since Lopez’s text was created as a play on the “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster, both visual images need to be analyzed in relation to one another to reach a fuller understanding of their message. The process of intentionally placing texts side by side with one another for the purposes of comparison/contrast is called juxtaposition. Now that you’ve analyzed each individual text, take a moment to juxtapose the artwork and note your thoughts in the chart below.

	“I Want You”	“Pilgrim”	Both
How does the finger pointing in these texts make you feel as a reader?
How does each text position you as a reader?
How do these texts draw attention to a sense of nationalism?
What problematic or biased assumptions do these texts expose? What do they make you question?
How do they make you read yourself critically?

Now that you’ve engaged in an analytical comparison of these visual texts, consider Nunn’s (2021) interpretation, which focuses on Lopez’s use of “patriotic imagery,” particularly in the form of the Uncle Sam poster, to argue that “immigration is a key social justice issue.” As Nunn (2021) explains “The central figure addresses the viewer as ‘pilgrim.’ ” The idea that we, the viewers, are addressed and positioned as “pilgrims” within this text might cause us to pause. Perhaps our engagement with an “other”--in this case, Lopez’s drawing–initiates a self-reflexive reading. Are we the “pilgrims”? Why might this be a surprising act of naming? What does our surprise tell us about our perspective and ideology?

In her analysis, Nunn asserts that Lopez’s text “reclaims the world pilgrim.” Not only does the process of reclaiming language support a broader reinscription of power dynamics, but the act of naming is a transformative one. By naming the word around us, including dominant ideologies, we can perceive our realities as problems—problems that invite our engagement towards change (Freire, 2008). Nunn describes the impact that Lopez’s text has had on viewers: “This image continues to resonate within Chicano and Latino communities as a powerful statement. It asks who has a right to be part of the United States. ‘Pilgrim’ is often used to claim who ‘first’ arrived in the country. However, this work reminds the viewer that Indigenous peoples lived in the Americas before the Pilgrims arrived.”

Throughout this section on “Reading Self-Reflexively,” we’ve observed authors engage in self-reflexive reading, as documented through their own writing, and we’ve also encountered texts that were composed in such ways that invited us to read ourselves reflexively.

Reflection on Section

Now that we’ve reached the end of this section on “Reading Self-Reflexively” take a few minutes to reflect on the section as a whole.

1. Paraphrase your own understanding of the value of reading self-reflexively.

Again, the process of reading self-reflexively involves “turning back to discover, examine, and critique one’s claims and assumptions in response to an encounter with another idea, text, person, or culture (Qualley, 1997, p. 104). As we read ourselves in this way and tend to reflect on the ways our beliefs have been formed, we might begin to become more conscious of what we value and how those values have been shaped. The more awareness we have of our values, the more we can discern how they impact our reading practices and question them in our interpretation of texts. Before moving to the next major section of the book, we invite you to see the “Personal Values” activity to identify and articulate the principles that matter most to you. Based on that activity, note a few of your strongest values below.

The next major section, “Questioning Naturalized Views,” will engage you in more ways of thinking that will aid in the broader goals of reading the word and the world self-reflexively.