Nuestro Granada

• Janice Castro, Art, University of Delaware

• Gregory Shelnutt, Art & Design, University of Delaware

Through the experimentation of mixed media with a focus on painting, the original purpose of my research celebrates the significant impact my mom has had on my life. After investigating the complex relationship between immigrant mothers and daughters, I discovered that my ambivalent relationship with my mom is one that many daughters feel with their mothers. Over the course of this program, I researched both artists and scholars that pertains to my topic of immigration, family, and hispanic culture. The most significant research comes from Lisette J. Lasater’s dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English. Her paper, “Our Mother’s Daughters: The Daughter’s Voice in Chicana/Latina Literature” written in 2019, examines primary essays, poems, short stories, and dramatic texts written by Chicanas/Latinas retelling their mother’s story, and she explores how this literature and cultural production creates opportunities to celebrate and heal from mother-daughter relationships. My extensive research and ambition to experiment with transforming my paintings through the process of mixed media, led me to three main research questions: How will I portray my relationship with my mom that not only celebrates her story as a strong, loving woman, but also examines the mixed feelings of love and hate, the push and the pull, of our relationship without blaming and victimization? In what ways should I transform the visual representation of paint on a canvas where it is intentional and symbolic to the relationship I have with my mom? How does my research on Chicana/Latina literature connect to the artwork that I create? After conducting interviews with my family members, gaining inspiration from hispanic and bolivian artists, and analyzing secondary sources, I produced four artworks that successfully represent the relationship I have with my mom. As Lisette J. Lasater explains, retelling my mother’s story is important because as I become the critical witness for my mother, I invite the audience to become critical witnesses for me without diminishing my mother’s experiences. Just like the power of writing, the power of creating art “enables Chicanas to connect first with each other” and then to a larger audience. Exploring artwork with themes on the complex relationship between immigrant parents and their children, I believe that there isn’t enough artwork empowering the stories first-generation students have. If I were to continue my research, I’d focus on how acculturation gaps affect the relationship of hispanic immigrant parents and their children, interview first-generation hispanic students, and create artwork that uncovers their story.