#latino painter

[soundgrammar]

Jaylen Pigford (American) - El Negrito, acrylic on canvas, 2022

[portraitsofpierrelucero]

Artist Pierre Lucero, Mural for Latino Resource Center, Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, Summer 2024

Instagram: @pierrelucero

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@a-roguish-gambit

José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior (1850-1899) “Studio in Paris” (1880) Realism

[askgildaseniors]

Santana Dempsey, an actor, painter, and writer, shares her journey from foster care to self-discovery. Separated from her birth mother due to family struggles, she and her sister were adopted by a loving couple in the Midwest. But growing up with mixed heritage in a small town came with its own challenges. Through embracing her Afro-Latino roots, Santana found her true identity and now advocates for celebrating our unique stories and creating a more inclusive world. Make sure to watch the full episode to hear her whole story!

CHAPTERS: 00:00: Embracing Complexity 01:16: A Painful Separation 02:38: The Invisible Struggle of Poverty and Mental Health 04:00: When Addiction and Neglect Take a Deadly Turn 05:11: How Love and Connection Can Overcome Biological Boundaries 05:43: The Weight of Responsibility 07:48: Growing Up Multiracial in a Small Town 10:03: Embracing My Afro-Latino Identity and Rejecting External Labels 12:24: How I Discovered the Joy of Speaking Spanish 14:25: The Freedom to Choose 17:24: Music Shaped Our Identities and Experiences 20:49: Uncovering the Truth About My Biological Father 21:57: How Exploring the World Helped Me Find Myself 24:23: From Short Stories to Novel, and the Struggle to Share My Story 25:29: How I Survived Trauma and Burnout 27:24: Finding My Way Back to Myself 30:17: The Unseen Support 31:15: The Gift of Passion 32:55: The Pursuit of Authenticity

[biblicallyangelic]

HATZGANG HEADCANONZ!!!!

Roy:

💵💰🧨🥤

Listens to shitty rap music

Thinks games like Roblox and such are for babies, he bullies Robert for it

Scared of horror movies

Secretly listens to Kpop, if you catch him he claims it’s for the hot girls 🤓

His favorite band would be Twice

Rich white boy

“I’m not privileged! Someone called me a snow roach!!🤬”

Makes fun of foreigners for their accent, but can only speak English 💀💀

His parents force him to do sports, he doesn’t want to so whenever they drop him off he sneaks out and skips the classes without anyone knowing

Either straight or gay, no in between

He’s a chubby and short boy

The embodiment of Eric cartman

Ross:

🌎🔭🌌🚀🛸

Big fan of metal thanks to his dad, favorite bands are Megadeth, Slipknot and Cannibal Corpse

Drinks monster energy in secret, his mom tells him not to because it makes him even more tired since he’s young

Space enthusiast

Smart as hell, has plenty of knowledge

Pretty good at science

Pulls down his beanie when he’s nervous or embarrassed

Quiet, observes instead of talking

Gives random facts during a conversation

Has plenty of metal band shirts that his dad lent him from when he was younger

Tries to be edgy as hell

Latino, more specifically Puerto Rican on his dad’s side

He’d probably be French on his mom’s side since Jaune is yellow in French

Fascinated with aliens and ‘unknown space creatures’

Skateboards

Sneaks out at night to go stargazing alone

Writes poems and he’s pretty good at it too!

Speaks Spanish and English

Bisexual

Robert:

🪴🧸🔎🪱🐞

Gives the best hugs

Probably an age regressor

Loves animals and nature

Likes painting and drawing

Wants to become a painter in the future

Plays reblex adopt me 🤬 with his little sister

Lots of spelling mistakes

Puts his milk before his cereal

AUTISTIC!1!1!1!

John takes him to the police station since Robert admires him

His favorite movie is Beverly Hills Cops because of that

Owns a Nintendo switch

Collects butterflies

VERY clumsy

Eats worms…

I can see him being Slav/eastern European, either Russian or Czech, but just half

Pansexual

[lboogie1906]

Palmer Cole Hayden (January 15, 1890 – February 18, 1973) was a painter who depicted African American life, landscapes, seascapes, and African influences. He sketched and painted in both oils and watercolors and was a prolific artist of his era.

He was born Peyton Cole Hedgeman in Widewater, Virginia. He was introduced to the arts by his older brother who took up drawing at an early age. Despite his early interest in art, he had ambitions to become a fiddle player. Midnight at the Crossroads is a painting that depicts the decision he was forced to make. This piece demonstrates the personal significance of his conflict.

He moved to DC during his teenage years to find work to make a living. He began to pursue an art career, where he first encountered an experience with explicit racism. He had placed an ad in the local paper for an artist’s assistant and was bewildered when he was rejected for being African American. He bounced from occupation to occupation with little commitment, he enlisted in the Army’s Black company stationed in the Philippines.

He found himself pleased with the amount of spare time he had and even found a tutor, who enjoyed map drawing and would instruct him. This was his first true experience with artistic education. He decided to re-enlist. He was assigned to the 10th Cavalry at West Point. He enrolled in a correspondence drawing course.

He married Miriam Huffman. He decided in 1944 to begin a new project, which resulted in a three-year effort that culminated in his most fulfilling works: The John Henry series.

He continued to be active with his art, regularly being selected for prestigious awards and traveling between Paris and the US to fuel his inspiration. Racism remained a relevant topic in his life and art, leading him to publicly speak out against racist policies hindering the African American and Hispanic communities. He wrote to William Booth, the Chairman of the City Commission on Human Rights, regarding the advocacy for an equal number of African Americans, Latinos, and white people on the board to prevent mistreatment fueled by prejudice and power. #africanhistory365 #africanexellence

[ninja-muse]

So, as you can probably guess by this post, I've decided to continue posting wrap-ups after all, but not necessarily a review every month. (This month, for instance, I read a bunch of good stuff but nothing I wanted to rave about.) I'm still tracking this stuff for my own edification and I like coming up with snappy one-sentence summaries, so if I'm doing 90% of the work already…. You'll also notice that this year, for spice and transparency, I'm adding in where I got the books from, in case people somehow though I was buying everything.

Anyway, I've had a good start to my reading year, all told. Sadly I've already had a DNF—it's a great fantasy if you're moving from YA to adult, but I wanted something more—and one book that probably should have been a DNF but I pushed through to find out what was causing the horror stuff and … didn't get a good answer. But everything else was good!

I have not, however, done well on my goal of "buy fewer books". Mislaid in Parts Half-Known and the new Rivers of London comic were auto-buys, and The History of Magic is one I've wanted to read for a while but is now effectively out of print in Canada and unavailable at the library so when it showed up to work on sale…. My last book purchase was even more accidental; a semi-coworker reached out with their recent unhaul and asked if I'd like to take anything off their hands. I'd heard of Fantomina and it seemed up my alley—17th-century romance/erotic/feminist fiction—and the price was right.

Oh yes, and my work got Bookshops and Bonedust stickers. I had no choice there either.

And that's about it for updates! Click through to see everything I read this month, in the rough order of how glad I was to have read them.

The Phoenix Crown - Janie Chang and Kate Quinn

An opera singer, an embroiderer, a painter, and a botanist are drawn together by a businessman with a love for Chinese art. Out in February.

7/10

main character with migraines, 🏳️‍🌈 main character (sapphic), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (sapphic), Chinese-American main character, Chinese-American secondary characters, Argentinian secondary character, secondary character with permanent hand injury and PTSD, Taiwanese-Canadian author, 🇨🇦

warning: misogyny, anti-Chinese racism including slurs

Reading copy

Bunyan and Henry - Mark Cecil

When Paul Bunyan leaves the security of Lump Town on a quest to save his wife, he learns that the tallest tale of all might just be the American Dream. Out in March

7/10

protagonist with disfigured foot and chronic pain, Black and Chinese-American secondary characters

Reading copy

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands - Heather Fawcett

When Wendell’s past catches him up at Cambridge, Emily and he set out for Austria to search for his door. They know it won't be easy but they weren't expecting this.

7/10

🇨🇦

Borrowed from work

The Book of Doors - Gareth Brown

Cassie inherits a magical book that lets her travel anywhere. Other people will do anything to acquire it. Out in February

7/10

Black and Japanese supporting characters; fat, Chinese, and Egyptian incidental characters

Warnings for gore and violence

Reading copy

How to End a Love Story - Yulin Kuang

Helen’s YA series is getting adapted and she’s in the writer’s room. Unfortunately so is the guy involved in her sister’s suicide and she’s never forgiven him. Enemies to lovers. Out in April

7/10

Chinese-American protagonist, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic, mlm), Middle Eastern-American secondary character, Chinese-American author

Warning: pre-book suicide, grief

Reading copy

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known - Seanan McGuire

When a student tries to force Antsy to work for her, Antsy and her new friends escape through a Door and begin a long trip home.

7/10

🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (multisexual, trans boy); Japanese-American, Black, Latino, fat, and albino secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 author

Purchased

Rivers of London, Vol 11: Here Be Dragons - Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel

Peter Grant investigates a series of UFO sightings that have … wings and claws?

7/10

Black-British main character, Black-British secondary character, Muslim secondary character

Purchased

In The Pines - Grace Elizabeth Hale

A woman realizes the story of her grandfather stopping a lynching may have been very untrue, and digs into Mississippi history to reckon with what actually happened.

7/10

focus on Black lives

warning: racism, lynching

Library book

Bryony and Roses - T. Kingfisher

When Bryony tries to take a rose from a mysterious manor house, the Beast who lives there makes her stay. And there might be a curse he wants broken?

6.8/10

physical TBR/Christmas gift

Heartstopper, Vol. 5 - Alice Oseman

Uni is on the horizon and Nick’s unsure what he wants for his future. Charlie wants to take their relationship to the next level, but is he really ready?

6.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonists (gay, bisexual), Black-British, Egyptian-British, Middle Eastern-British and Chinese-British secondary characters, Muslim supporting character, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (trans girl, lesbian, asexual), 🏳️‍🌈 incidental characters (nonbinary), 🏳️‍🌈 author

Warning: author supports Israel

Borrowed from work

Bad Glass - Richard E. Gropp

Something horrifying is happening to the people of Spokane. A young photographer sneaks in to document it.

5/10

Indian-American secondary character, Black secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (gay)

warning: body horror, dubious consent

Library ebook

DNF

Sun of Blood and Ruin - Mariely Lares

Pantera fights to protect her city from Spanish colonists while hiding her true identity as a noblewoman. Unfortunately, the world might soon be ending. Out in February.

Indigenous Mexican protagonist and secondary characters, Mexican-American author

reading copy

Currently reading

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

The Black and Jewish residents of a Pennsylvania neighbourhood get along (mostly) but tensions build when the government decides to take a local Deaf kid to an asylum.

Jewish and Black cast, major character with chronic illness and a limp, secondary Deaf character, Black author

warning: ableist characters and institutions, racist and anti-Semitic characters

Library book

Eve - Cat Bohannon

A history of human evolution, through the lens of the female body.

reading copy

Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century - Richard Taruskin A history of early written European music, in its social and political contexts.

The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle Victorian detective stories

major disabled character

warning: racism, colonialism

Stats

Monthly total: 11 Yearly total: 11 Queer books: 2 Authors of colour: 1.5 Books by women: 7 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 1.5 Classics: 0 Off the TBR shelves: 1 Books hauled: 4 ARCs acquired: 5 ARCs unhauled: 5 DNFs: 1

[statecryptids]

Doing another book review, yo!

I recently had the pleasure of discovering poetry (or rather, rediscovering poetry, since I used to enjoy reading it as a kid) thanks to a class on children’s literature genres that I took for my Library Science degree. While working on an assignment to survey part of the children’s section at my local library and found a bunch of great kid’s poetry books and thought I’d share a few of them. Hopefully y’all might find some that interest you too.

YES! WE ARE LATINOS

By Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, with drawings by David Diaz

This collection of free-verse poems is about the experiences of Latino children in the United States,  showcasing a great diversity of characters who are Black, Indigenous, white, and of mixed Hispanic heritage. The book also includes groups who may not be as widely known, such Latinos of Japanese and Chinese descent, and Sephardic Jews who fled Spain in the Middle Ages. Each poem is accompanied by background history on topics such as the Spanish Civil War, migrant farmworkers and African heritage. These notes especially appealed to me because they gave each poem more context and really helped build an appreciation for the history and experiences of Latino culture.

The poem titles follow the same formula: “My Name is ___” followed by the ethnicity and cultural relationship of the narrator. For example: “My Name is Monica. I Am From El Salvador. I Live in Houston. I am Texan. I am Latina.”  Each is a short vignette in the life of a Latino child. There is a girl questioning what she wants in life as she prepares for her quinceañera; a migrant worker boy catching a ride in his father’s truck and thinking about the life he left behind in Mexico; A boy dreaming about becoming a painter; and more. Though the stories differ, there is a strong theme running through them about dreams for the future and building a better life.

Poems are written in a free verse style which mimics prose speech. This may bother those used to more traditional rhyming couplet poetry. But for other readers the natural flow of the sentence may make it easier to follow the stories.  

Each poem is accompanied by Diaz’ black-and-white illustrations which resemble wall murals, Mexican papel picado banners, and even shadow puppets.

Oddly, despite trying to encompass the breadth of Latinx people, the book glaringly does not feature any characters of Brazilian ancestry, even though this country is the largest and one of the most diverse in Latin America. The book also lacks characters from other countries where Spanish is not the dominant language, such as Suriname where Dutch is the official language, French Guiana where French is mainly spoken; or Guyana and Belize where a sizeable portion of the population speak English.  Indeed, the book seems to be focused mainly on Hispanic identities with a few exceptions such as the Sephardic Jewish family in “My Name is Sultana, o Susana”, and the white Spanish family in “My Name is Rocio” who fled to Mexico, then the US during the Spanish Civil War. While these omissions do knock the book down a little in my rating, the collection does a good job of highlighting the diverse Latino identities of people living in the United States. And as Ada states in the Introduction: “Whatever your background, this book is an invitation to look inside yourself.”

 Yes! We Are Latinos is available on Amazon or though Bookshop.org

[glassprism]

I got tagged by @battydings! Thanks!

Tag (9) people you would like to know better.

Last song: The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection Soundtrack (it's good music for doing mindless work).

Currently Reading: Latino-Americans by Ray Suarez, African Kingdoms of the Past (series) by Kenny Mann, First Peoples in Canada by Alan D. McMillan and Eldon Yellowhorn, Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall, India A History by John Keay, The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter, The House of Dudley by Joanne Paul, and I want to try Circe by Madeline Miller.

Currently Watching: House of the Dragon. Again.

Current Obsession: The Terminator series.

I tag: @meilas @pureanonofficial, @symphony-in-a, @from-aldebaran, @toru771, @emotionalmotionsicknessxx, @box5intern @marleneoftheopera, @roadtophantom

[eldritch-nightmare]

Hello! I go by 🎀 anon! I’d like to do a match up, if that’s okay! I’m a latino afab and genderfluid (they/them) in my 20s! 5’4 height, medium length dark brown hair with a shaggy mullet type of haircut (hoping to at least have magenta highlights if work allows it </3), brown eyes, mid-sized body type, a INFP MBTI type, and my star sign is a Taurus. Also am autistic and have ADHD! I’m a pan disaster but fictionally I lean towards male characters! 🤣

I LOVE art and animation! I do digital art as a hobby and hope to sell as a side job some day! I have a special interest for horror, especially indie horror gaming! I also love trying different culture foods, even if I’m biased in my puerto rican roots. I always make effort to seek other cultural meals and learn how to eat them properly and know it’s history because… I love food and making food. 🫡 Speaking of! My love language is making someone meals, buying them gifts and making them art! <3

Ah, not sure if it matters, but I wear a lot of cutesy pastel pink clothes (bonus if they’re strawberry themed) as well as very goth and punk clothing depending on my mood! Which is always funny whenever I wear very gothic outfits, people look so shocked when they see my room LMAO. I love a variety of music including nu metal, goth rock, game soundtracks, chill lo-fi sounding music (Like the kind you hear in Bee and Puppycat! Which is actually my comfort show…). It fluctuates depending the mood LOL. (It’s… quite a mix.) While I’m introverted, I do like going out and interacting with others when having the energy to do so! I tend to ramble a lot though and always fear to seem annoying, then regret later for going on for too long so expect a lot of apologizing for that. 😭

Kinda like now actually LOL, apologies if this is too long! Not sure how much to put in, but hope you have a good day! Take your time to answer, no rush! Appreciate it, thank you! qvq

can i just say you sound so cool?? like?? hello?? your taste in music is literally superb?? but don't worry, this wasn't too long, so no need to apologize <3 i hope your work allows you to get magenta highlights!!

your matchup is... the bloody painter! and it's not because of the art thing, trust me on this okay, just hear me out for a moment. while, yes, you and helen both enjoy art, helen is also really big on horror and the whole goth subculture. while he doesn't dress the part, you will catch him listening to the music and digesting both the art and literature. so. trust me.

helen is pretty reserved and not one to let people close to him but once you break the ice and get past his apathetic exterior, you'll find that he's actually pretty... i wouldn't say he's open once you get to know him, but it's fairly obvious that he'll become less reserved around you, and he'll actually show that he cares about you. does that make sense?

moving on, helen doesn't give food a lot of thought, to be honest. he likes what he likes, and he hates what he hates. he would be a terrible food critic. he does, however, know and understand that cooking is an art, and he has nothing but respect for you and your talents and is 100% willing to be a taste tester for you if you ever need one. he quite enjoys your cooking, if we're being honest, and you have introduced him to a wide variety of different foods from different cultures and he just... loves seeing you enjoy yourself.

now going on to art, because this is helen and it's unavoidable. helen is more of a traditional artist, so digital art isn't his area of expertise, but he would absolutely love to see any and all of your drawings. you two could even draw together! and he has like numerous sketchbooks just full to the brim of sketches and fully-fledged out pieces if you ever want to see them. he loves sharing his own art as well. and, if you give him permission, he'll probably incorporate you into his art. he'll sketch you or add you into the background of one of his paintings. art is his love language, and he would love to involve you in it.

helen doesn't give gifts often, mostly because it's not something that crosses his mind, but sometimes he'll be out and about, and he'll see something. something strawberry-themed or an accessory that would look good with your goth or punk clothing. and, of course, the only natural thing to do is to buy it and gift it to you. so, every once in a while, he'll just hand you a random gift with no real explanation other than a shrug or 'i saw it and thought about you.'

and if you start rambling to him about a certain topic that has caught your interest, or about your day-to-day life in general, helen will silently listen to you. he likes listening to you ramble, especially when he's mindlessly sketching something. and should you apologize for rambling too much, he'll just momentarily meet your gaze and say, 'don't apologize. i like the sound of your voice.' before directing his attention back to whatever he was sketching.

any and all information you give him about the things you like and dislike will be neatly tucked away into a corner of his mind. he's the type to remember everything you tell him, even the minor things. you're a very important part of his life, and he does everything he can to make sure you know that.

[cockroachmotherfucker10]

Ooh, I love this post, and I'd love to ramble about how I myself am navigating this in my current novel.

The protagonist of my WIP is a visibly emaciated girl with a severe restrictive eating disorder, and the primary theme of the novel is hunger (on a metaphorical level as well as a literal one, naturally). My protagonist needed larger women alongside her, both for diversity and to serve as her foil.

I gave her a roommate, Ari, who is a fat Latina girl. But I wanted Ari to be soft and sad and sleepy...and I knew the lattermost trait came too close to the laziness stereotypically attributed to both fat people and Latinos.

Thus, I decided to balance it out by making her athletic, smart, strong, and reserved yet kind. One of Ari's first scenes shows her offering to carry my very ill protagonist's heavy suitcase with ease. And Protagonist, of course, is hopelessly attracted to Ari's beauty—not in spite of, but in large part because of her size (and strength!). Subconsciously, I think Ari was definitely inspired by my attraction to my IRL partner, which is a sweet little thing I notice while editing.

Ari is my Sleeping Beauty, and I like her character more because I worked to give her a little more nuance than "roommate who's always lying around." She is a beautiful, feminine "princess" with a secret admirer (Protagonist), and she is a powerful fat woman of color.

Now, my deuteragonist is a woman named Hawthorne, whose body is soft and full and voluptuous. I did in fact use the word "Rubenesque" in her introduction; she has that body type revered by all the great painters of centuries past. She's dead sexy, and she and Protagonist both know it.

Hawthorne is a devoted hedonist, which I initially recognized as problematic in that fat people are often stereotyped as greedy and debauched. She had to be tightly composed in other aspects: well-groomed, elegant, and aloof.

Additionally, it's clear her hedonism is not as innate as her body type, but is rooted in a traumatic past marked by poverty (though her whiteness, of course, still allows her access to a lifestyle in which a woman of color would not have the privilege of indulging, through the automatic permissiveness society and individuals grant to her by virtue of her race and conventional beauty).

Finally, Hawthorne's hedonism is portrayed as darkly seductive, but only because Protagonist—an autistic, mentally ill, physically disabled, queer, and deeply traumatized woman of color—has never been able to seek pleasure, instead fighting her own marginalization in every facet of life. Hawthorne's continual decision to indulge is a window into privilege...yet is still criticized under the puritanical standards of a fatphobic, capitalist, culturally Christian society.

She's right to enjoy food, sex, vanity, and every other form of pleasure. We should all be so lucky, and Protagonist finally gets that chance under Hawthorne's wing. In that way, I hope it's clear her body type is neither a symptom nor cause of any moral vice. She loves to eat decadently—good!

In short? It's complicated to write fat characters, as it is complicated to write any marginalized character knowing that you have years of stereotypes beaten into your head through your own media consumption.

I think it's just important to challenge the first heuristic to pop into your head, and to carefully consider how you can flesh out a label (like Fat™) into a full-fledged character with nuance and dimension.

I am 100000000% not perfect at doing that, but no one is. What's most important is to try, and to listen to actual marginalized voices with compassion and empathy as you do so.

Fat people are human beings like any other! Write them as such!!

-Mod Lia

Challenging Fatphobic Language in Writing: Some Alternative Vocabularies

So I’m currently working on a short story for an explicitly fat-positive anthology, and it’s making me realize just how little language I have readily at hand for describing large bodies in positive terms! 

Putting aside for a moment the whole debate over HAES and fat positivity and everything else – and if you clown on this post, I’m simply going to block you, that’s not what we’re here for – sometimes you just want to write a story with a fat person in it and you need some adjectives/descriptive language that isn’t overtly gross and/or fetishistic. 

Well, I’ve got you, fam. I have compiled this handy list of descriptive terms and phrases for describing big bodies with positive connotations.

Why am I doing this? 

Because this:

And this: 

And frankly, we all deserve better. So let’s go. 

Positive (and Neutral) Adjectives for Fatness

Abundant

Ample

Big

Broad

Buxom

Considerable

Curvy

Full

Generous

Heavy

Large

Luscious

Plentiful

Plump

Replete

Robust

Round

Rubenesque

Soft

Solid

Stocky

Substantial

Thick

Voluptuous

Zaftig

Movement Verbs Evoking Fatness

Amble

Bounce

Lope

Mosey

Pad

Plod

Pound

Ramble

Scoot

Shuffle

Trundle

Some Points to Keep In Mind

A big part of challenging fatphobia in writing is inverting or subverting stereotypes. Here are a few lazy/played-out tropes and things to think about: 

Fat = Greedy I think we can all agree at this point that there are better ways to show greed – such as excessive wealth, entitlement, selfishness, and so forth. There is really no need to use fatness or gluttony as a metaphor for these concepts. Just write your greedy character doing greedy things and resist the urge to make them also be fat. If you need a strong visual metaphor, go for opulence and wealth instead. 

Fat = Gross  A ton of media, especially horror, loves making fat people slovenly, smelly, covered in food stains, farting and belching, etc. etc. So if you want a more positive representation, just presenting the character as clean, well-dressed, tidy, etc. actually goes a very long way. Consider playing against type by making your fat character dapper or fastidious about other elements of their appearance, like their hair, or wearing very nice custom-fitted clothes (or even just “dressing up” a bit more than everyone else). 

Fat = Out of Shape Yes, absolutely, many fat people are also out of shape couch potatoes. But so are a lot of skinny people. And fat people absolutely can be athletic – go google “fat athletes” for several lists of them if you don’t believe me! Sure, you probably won’t find a ton of fat long-distance runners, but you’ll definitely find plenty of hefty weight lifters, fighters, folks with physical jobs, etc. A lot of super muscular people are also carrying extra fat, and that is in fact way more common and natural than the super-defined, well-cut muscles you see on TV. Keep that in mind the next time you’re writing an army of strong hand-to-hand combatants – they’re likely to be physically big, not in a bulging muscle He-Man way but more of an “absolute unit” way. Keep in mind, too, that even regular folks packing extra pounds will often tend to be a lot stronger (on account of spending every day carrying extra weight!) You can be fat and graceful, fat and strong, fat and with endurance. Just something to keep in mind. 

Fat = Pig  Pigs have a reputation for being huge, dirty, smelly, garbage-eating slobby creatures, and “disgusting fat pig” and “porker” and their ilk have been insults against big people for a long time. Of course, in reality pigs are also super smart, highly social (and fucking terrifying) but that’s not usually waht gets invoked when people think of them! Really, avoiding animal language when talking about people is often a good idea (since animal comparisons can be dehumanizing), but if you are going to evoke an animal, go with something else. Like a seal (super cute, very graceful in its natural environment) or a bear (big and solid and intimidating) or a bull elk (thick and majestic). 

Fat = Ugly  Fat people can be beautiful. I mean, sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and inner beauty is a thing and all that – but that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean that fat bodies are great! They’re warm and soft and huggable. They’re big and solid and comforting. They can be strong and protective. They can be super-feminine and curvy. Cute as a button or powerful and demanding with their presence. 

Obviously dismantling fatphobia is a whole big (ha, ha) topic all on its own, and there’s a ton more to think about. But this is at least something to get you started! 

Context matters a whole lot in description – words can be positive or negative based on how they’re utilized! But these are at least some terms intended to be a bit less loaded with negative baggage than those often used in less flattering descriptions. 

Have you read a book with a fat character who had a great or interesting description? Please reblog, I’d love to see how other authors have handled it! 

[portraitsofpierrelucero]

Artist Pierre Lucero painting details on his mural for the Latino Resource Center at Governors State University.

University Park, Illinois, Summer 2024

Instagram: @pierrelucero

[stevenobrion]

FROM FOSTER CARE TO FAMILY: SANTANA’S JOURNEY OF SURVIVAL

Santana Dempsey, an actor, painter, and writer, shares her journey from foster care to self-discovery. Separated from her birth mother due to family struggles, she and her sister were adopted by a loving couple in the Midwest. But growing up with mixed heritage in a small town came with its own challenges. Through embracing her Afro-Latino roots, Santana found her true identity and now advocates for celebrating our unique stories and creating a more inclusive world. Make sure to watch the full episode to hear her whole story!  #afro-latino celebrities  #acting career  #how to become an actor  #creativity  #pandemic

[jonfarreporter]

Meso-American Culture and Art Comes Alive at 2nd Annual “Milagros and Memories” Exhibition in Sausalito

Among the nine artists participating in the upcoming “Milagros & Memories” exhibit at the Sausalito Center for the Arts are Juan Fuentes and Calixto Robles.

Both artists use their art to promote awareness and social change for Meso-American people. They are of Mexican heritage and ancestry, yet their art is varied in expression and reaches out to a wider audience. 

While each of the two are different and unique, as artists of vision and dedication, they both embrace the rich cultural tapestry of the Americas which goes beyond Mexico.

They both understand the reality that indigenous peoples throughout the Americas are and have always been imbedded in so many ways in the land and its biodiverse, ecological topography.

Long before Europeans and other settlers arrived in the Americas, indigenous people thrived and built communities, cities and civilizations. Despite the colonial conflicts and efforts to eradicate indigenous people and their existence from the land, they endured. 

It is this struggle and endurance that both artists in their own way want to highlight.

Robles is from Oaxaca Mexico and moved to San Francisco in 1983. As a painter, printmaker, and ceramic sculptor, the inspiration he gets from Meso-American and indigenous or what he prefers to refer to as ‘First Nation people’s culture’ is essential. 

Robles likes to incorporate sacred imagery of ancient Eastern as well as Western cultures into his art pieces. Robles uses natural and supernatural figures such as angels, eagles, jaguars, horses, hearts and moons.

“I have had shows at the De Young Museum, San Francisco, The Oakland Museum, The Mexican Cultural Center in Paris France, the Museo de la Estampa, in Mexico City, and Biblioteca de La Habana, in Habana, Cuba,” he said. 

Like Robles, Fuentes has used printmaking techniques in his art. Born in Artesia, New Mexico, Fuentes was inspired by the Chicano Movement. 

“This will be my first time to exhibit at the Sausalito Center for the Arts,” said Fuentes. “And, it's an honor to be able to share my work with a new audience and community.”

His mentors were Rupert Garcia and Malaquias Montoya. Over the years, Fuentes has dedicated his art as a cultural activist to support and be part of a global movement for social change. 

Fuentes’ silkscreen posters and relief prints have addressed many issues as they relate to communities of color, social justice, racism, and international struggles for liberation.

Both artists have received accolades and are well-established and respected. 

Fuentes has taught at the Mission Campus/City College of SF, the California College of the Arts, Oakland CA and he was visiting faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute’s print department. 

Fuentes was also director of Mission Grafica at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. Since 2005, he has received several prestigious awards and honors. 

Like Robles’ work, Fuentes’ prints and posters reside in various institutions and museums including, the Mexican Museum of San Francisco, the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the San Francisco Fine Arts Museum, the Library of Congress, and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. 

Fuentes’ studio ‘Pajaro Editions’ is part of Consejo Grafico Nacional, a collective (coalition) of Chicano/Latino print studios, headquartered in New York City. 

 Fuentes’ work is also featured at CEMA, the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives, University of Santa Barbara. Because of the impact of his work, CEMA has also set up a personal archive for his works. 

Needless to say, both artists have had their art exhibited locally, nationally and internationally at various times in many places. 

What many people don’t realize is that Mexican art has a long and rich history. Since its earliest days in the 1300s, Mexico City has been a major center.

And, while often people think of Mayan, Aztec and Olmec art as central to its artistic expression, Mexico City for example, has been a center for contemporary art, Freda Khalo and muralist Diego Rivera are among many. There are many, many more. This is why Mexican art is flourishing like at the Zona Maco Festival for more than two decades. 

One of the most prolific opportunities for contemporary Mexican art to be expressed is during the “Day of the Dead” celebrations. This is something that Fuentes understands as he said.

“I have participated in ‘Day of The Dead’ celebrations throughout the years, mainly in the Mission Community of San Francisco.”

“It is a beautiful celebration,” he continued. “And, it gives us a chance to reflect on those loved one's that have passed.”

“It is also a reminder of our own mortality, said Fuentes and the need to celebrate each day with the rising of the sun.”

 Making the most of the opportunity, this coming Oct 5, the Sausalito Center for the Arts (SCA) will be celebrating “the Day of The Dead,” with a 2nd annual “Milagros & Memories” month-long exhibit and benefit fundraiser. 

“This exhibit promises to bring a new appreciation for the modern and edgy images created by the highly celebrated artists in this unique exhibition,” said SCA executive director, Shiva Pakdel.

“The gripping and highly symbolic art represents a complex and dynamic culture, said Pakdel, that pulls elements from its historical Mexican, Latin, and indigenous roots, all presented with a modern twist.” 

The participants in the exhibit are:

Juan Fuentes

Calixto Robles

Alexandra Blum

Guillermo Kelly

Alejandra Chaves

Andrea Gonzales

Sol Navarrete

Isidoro Angeles

Licita Fernandez

A collection of artist Michael Roman will also be featured. Known as “The Latino Wild-Style” artist, Roman was prolific in using many different techniques. He died in 2016, but his work lives on. 

“Each artist’s work is highly stylistic, rich with symbols and colors creating images that are visually stunning and contemporary,” added Pakdel.

MILAGROS & MEMORIES: Celebrating the work of iconic Latin American artists of the San Francisco Bay Area Opens on October 5 and continues until November 10. For more information visit the SCA website.

[klinefelterrible]

It’s like choosing between Ronald Reagan and Austrian Painter. One might fuck up your economy and maybe some aspects of your future and the other will make one nation sick of hatred towards enemies they’ll create and four years later you’ll be short of six million Jews*

*(or Mexicans, other latinos, blacks, Asians, you name it)

[allthetime-23]

If #desmonsilva were alive today, he would have been a painter and would have been in direct competition with other latino quadriplegic ventilator dependent guys #GabrielFelix in the north east coast state of connecticut and henry salas in the west coast of california.