This piece explores the intersection of Mexican cultural expectations of femininity and personal self-expression, with a focus on identity and femininity through a Western feminist lens. Growing up in a culture rich with history, I felt immense pride in my Mexican identity. Yet, despite this deep connection, I still faced the complex and deeply rooted gender roles within my culture, which often limited my ability to fully express myself. As a result, my pieces challenge the molds latina women are often forced into. 

“Es Porque Tu Eres Una Mujer” (It’s Because You’re A Woman) highlights the expectations placed on Mexican women, ones that seek to define and confine our place in the world. Drawing from my cultural background, my work combines symbolic imagery, vibrant colors, typography, and layered textures to explore the tension between societal expectations and women’s lived realities. Inspired by street art and chicana literature, my installation features plaster castings of the female form covered in posters using a wheatpasting technique. Beneath these layers, only a silhouette is visible, inviting the viewer to experience the overwhelming pressures women face.

Through this space, I challenge the typical narrative of "proper" values, blending traditional Mexican and progressive Chicana values to highlight feminine autonomy and personal truths.