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6 years ago
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One of the things I used to detest so much as a child was watching the Spanish actress Charo shaking her ass and screaming out “cuchi, cuchi!" on stage. Her famous act would make my blood boil. Please, Charo, forgive me (for we are both Spanish, Latin women) but you're capitalizing on broken English and the need to be sexy all the time, and I wonder if you helped shape the brand, image for Latin women.
There is more to my personal history with Charo's legacy than growing up watching her on television: my paternal grandmother was a performer too and there was a crossing of paths between these influential Latin women. Seeing such a beautiful Latin woman depicted in Charo’s characteristic way was beyond me. I questioned this image constantly, wondering about the advantages of being famously sexy and vulnerable. As opposed to all the women in my family who were immigrants and championed higher education. They worked as professionals, speaking fluent English, and every single one of them was extraordinarily attractive.
On one hand, I saw Charo as a brilliant entrepreneur. She seized the opportunity to commoditize a stereotype and hence became a star with a net worth of twelve billion dollars. In a society where money is synonymous with power, that is a ton of power.
In contrast to Charo's sexy Latina character, Panamanian artist Sandra Eleta tapped into another Latin female stereotype by photographing housemaids, albeit, with a much different attitude depicted in her su[...]
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9 years ago
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New York City has an ever changing art landscape. With the countless shows that go up on a weekly basis there are many topics that are explored and a wide array of artists featured in them. One such show opening this week is Art for Progress's "Déjà vu." This exhibition will be on display from October 30th through November 12th with an opening reception being held on Thursday evening from 6-10 pm at NOoSPHERE Gallery.
Two of the the artists in the show, Essam and
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