The Role of Art in Feminist Activism in Oaxaca, Mexico

There's a long history in Mexico of using popular art as a core method of communicating left-wing alternative political messages to the public. Oaxaca in particular is a vibrant hub of left-wing activism and activist art. Artists and activists alike use popular art (including printmaking, street art and embroidery) to transmit messages on themes including poverty, human rights, indigenous rights, State violence, and the war on drugs. Feminist activists alsouse therapeutic creative practices as part of their politicised
self-care activities. Increasingly, the wellbeing of activists is recognised as essential in ensuring effective and sustainable civil
society movements. Consorcio Oaxaca and IM Defensoras, with whom I have personal contact, are regarded as leading on approaches to feminist self-care (Barry and Djordjevic, 2008; Hernández Cárdenas and Tello Méndez, 2013 and 2017; Nah, Jones and Lines, 2019). The role of art in feminist activism in Mexico is under- researched. This is due to the invisibilisation of women in art (Nochlin, 1971; McCaughan, 2007; Bartra, 2008; González Reyes, 2014; Gargallo Celentani, 2015), historic divisions between feminist movements in Mexico (Hernández Castillo, 2010; Scriver and Fagan, 2020), and the complex relationship between feminism and the political Left in Mexico (Espinosa Damián, 2015).My research will address this gap in the literature. Moreover, my research will show that a feminist analysis of art and activism will enhance our collective understanding of the experiences of activists within social movements and the relationship between social movements and wider society in Oaxaca. Examples from elsewhere in Mexico support this notion. Castañeda Salgado (2016) argues that activist art reveals 'a link to the structural and systemic conditions...that permit and cover up' the infamous feminicides in Ciudad Juárez (Castañeda Salgado, 2016: 1055). Furthermore, feminist protestors in Mexico have been met with ridicule and backlash for using creative methods like song, dance, graffiti and glitter in their activism. Many question why feminists' activism appears to provoke more anger than the incidences of sexual and gender-based violence which lead them to protest (NACLA, 2019). My research seeks to answer the following questions: In what ways do feminist activists create and occupy spaces for making popular art? How do feminists in Oaxaca use art in their activism and what does it mean for the identity, resilience and effectiveness of feminist activism in the state?
What does popular political art reveal about the position of feminism within, and the gendered nature of, contemporary politics in Oaxaca? What opportunities exist to strengthen the links between feminist activism and art in Oaxaca? To answer these questions, I will use a combination of methods which is appropriate to my academic and professional expertise, and which will enable a thorough understanding of both the context in which feminist activists and artist activists work, as well as their individual experiences. These methods are in-depth semi-structured interviews, creative workshops / focus groups, participant observation, and close analysis of feminist popular political art. It will be essential to use literature from a range of disciplines to contextualise my work, including anthropology, history of art, politics, and women's studies. Despite its ubiquity, art historians have not awarded much attention to popular activist art in Mexico (Ávila, 2014), while academics from other disciplines have studied specific examples of activist art in Mexico and analysed its significance from socio-political perspectives. I will draw on the work of decolonial Latin Americanist feminists such as Hernández Castillo (2010), Lugones (2010), and Icaza and Vázquez (2013), who strengthen the epistemological basis of decolonial theory laid out by scholars such as Mignolo and Quijano by adding a genderered perspective.