The Virgin of Guadalupe is a cultural icon with deep roots in Mexican and Chicano communities across the United States and Mexico, among other places. Artists in New Mexico often reference Guadalupe in their work—including Chicana artist Delilah Montoya who has been integrating her into work for decades. A mixed-media piece, “La Guadalupana,” by Montoya features a large photograph of the Virgin of Guadalupe as tattooed on the back of an incarcerated man. It is one of the many works of art on display at New Mexico Museum of Art’s Vladem Contemporary as a part of their “identity” theme in Off-Center.  

“When I was making that piece of the Guadalupana, one of the things that the Chicano community was really thinking about was, ‘Who is she really? Is she just strictly a religious icon or is she a manifestation of the culture itself?’” says Montoya. “She’s protection. She’s protected her people for hundreds of years … The Indigenous communities all over Mexico and the United States prayed to her. She’s the goddess of the Americas.”

Katie Doyle, assistant curator at the New Mexico Museum of Art, says Montoya’s work fits in with Vladem’s exhibition because it tells one of many essential stories about the cultural and historical issues that have continued to affect people in New Mexico. “It is also this work that transcends time and speaks to issues that sit at the root and the core of the culture locally, but also the culture nationally and internationally,” says Doyle. 

Mentioned in this Episode: 

Gloria Anzaldúa on la Virgen de Guadalupe
Off-Center: New Mexico Art, 1970-2000 at New Mexico Museum of Art’s Vladem Contemporary
La Guadalupana by Delilah Montoya
Chicano Awareness Center in Omaha, Nebraska
Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska
National Geographic article about DNA and human ancestry

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Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. 

Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine
Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann
Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz
Recording Engineer: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe
Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler
Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota)
Theme Music: D’Santi Nava
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