¡Secrets & Dirty Fantasies! Identity, Art & Protest in the Context of U.S. A Spicy & Sentimental Senior Thesis by Alejandra Noyola

Abstract

For my senior project I created a body of work around the theme of "weaponized identity". Rather than inspecting and exploring the ways in which bodies are oppressed, I'm interested in highlighting the way queer, immigrant, low income, and/or people of color reclaim symbols, spread information, and degrade objects as forms of subtle protest. My aim is to demonstrate some of the endless possibilities protest could have. This is everything from signage on the U.S./Mexico Border with instructions on how to get across, an anti-labor manifesto, concrete pinatas, silicone police batons and more. This project was influenced by writers such as Saidya Hartman and artists such as Xandra Ibarra. It was also influenced by my senior project advisor Kate Gilmore who pushed me to develop my voice through my practice and my political protest professor Samuel Galloway who introduced me to the literature that set the foundation for this project.