Valdez, Watts, and Goldman

How does Patssi Valdez play part into the idea of Aztlán as a palimpsest? What does Patssi Valdez have to do with Chicano Iconography on self-determination, race, ethnicity, and class?

Patssi Valdez, both as a member of ASCO and as an individual artist, has used Aztlán as a palimpsest and used Chicano iconography to promote Chicano self-determination. To begin with, a palimpsest can be defined as "a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing" or "something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form." Iconography is "the use or study of images or symbols in visual arts" (definitions courtesy of goole.com)                                     Valdez, like many other Chicano artists has developed and built on the idea of Aztlán to express her frustration and challenge the norm.  While Valdez use of Aztlán as a palimpsest has taken her on a particularly unique road, with a different approach and style, it has nonetheless taken on a journey of confronting the barriers than prevent Chicano growth and visibility.  Valdez artistic style, especially during her years as a member of ASCO, was different from other Chicano artists who also drew their inspiration and traced their roots to Aztlán.  However different her approach, it still “[perpetuates] its mythic status as a location of Chicano identity” (Watts 305).  Ultimately, Valdez is tackling issues of the Chicano communities.  Valdez understood that “the dominant culture persistently considers cultural traits differing from its own to be deficiencies” (Goldman 170) and used her work "to show, how in response to exploitations, artists have taken an affirmative stance celebrating race, ethnicity, and class" (Goldman 167). 

Valdez was in a great position to challenge sexism because she was one of the few Chicanas who ventured out into the arts and was able to make a name for herself.  The Chicano Movement was able to use the concept of Aztlán as “an organizing metaphor for Chicano Movement activists, allowing them to unite heterogeneous elements under one political and social ethos of self identity and community empowerment, while advocating racial solidarity, social, and political change for Mexican-Americans” (Watts 306). Gender, on the other hand, was largely ignored.  This led many Chicanas to develop a “Chicana feminism, a feminism which reaches out to the Chicano community, remaking the Movement as it seeks to include those female and queer voices silenced in its discourse” (Watts 307).   Chicana feminism “[includes] a focus on gender as well as race and oppression” (Watts 307).