Glass Houses: A View of American Assimilation from a Mexican-American Perspective

© 2000 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 263–266, 2000 263 ARTISTS’ STATEMENTS GLASS HOUSES: A VIEW OF AMERICAN ASSIMILATION FROM A MEXICAN-AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE Jacalyn Lopez Garcia, 22851 Cattail Lane, Moreno Valley, CA 92557, U.S.A. E-mail: . Received 3 August 1998. Accepted for publication by Judy Malloy. Sometimes I feel challenged as an individual born in the U.S. because I do not always feel completely American. This feeling has a direct impact on the images I create because it causes me to look inward to my own cultural base. In doing so I discover reasons for my life, such as why I have to create art. —Glass Houses [1] Exploring Autobiography My interest in developing interactive web sites began in the early spring of 1995. That was when I discovered the Internet offered artists a different kind of imaginative experience for their viewers. It also marked a critical period in my life because during the mid-1990s I realized my need to create reflections of the past, while exploring new understandings of the present with the use of technology (the Internet) and autobiography. These facts, along with my interest in combining new trends in technologies, traditional art practices and visual literacy is what fueled my artistic vision for developing Glass Houses (1997), a multi-layered , interactive website. An integral aspect of Glass Houses involved having a strong desire to create a voice for the “modern” Chicana living in the suburbs [2]. And since I am an individual who has witnessed the challenges of oppressive environments and the spectre of racial enmity, Glass Houses was also created in an attempt to inspire cultural sensitivity. To meet my expectations, I created Glass Houses with the idea of a virtual house. Using the structural floorplan of my own home, I designed a doormat that serves as a metaphor to explore a variety of themes associated with daily living: fears, ritual, tradition, opportunity and desires. The web site offers a critical examination of the “Chicana(o)” experience as it relates to living in middle-class neighborhoods in Southern California, being influenced by popular culture, and struggling over identity issues with regard to one’s self and one’s children. As I peer into my son’s room my heart aches believing that my children and possibly their children will also experience the pain of “otherness.” I ask myself . . . When they begin to question their own identity what will they say? Will it be . . . Hispanic, Latino, American, Mexican-American, Chicano or other? —Glass Houses [3] Breaking New Ground As a multimedia artist and web author, I enjoy challenging the cold and impersonal environment most often associated with the computer. Is it possible to mirror the experience of reading a book in the privacy of one’s own home with a computer? My quest for answers to this question highly motivated me to investigate the relationship between public and private space in an attempt to create an intimate experience for my houseguest. Site Specifics I envisioned Glass Houses as more than just a vehicle for bringing my own struggles for personal identity into the public domain. Ultimately, this led me to exploring a variety of issues based on contemporary themes such as race, class and acculturation. As we crossed the Mexican border, the border patrol would ask me my citizenship . I would reply, “American” because my parents taught me to say that. But in California, people would ask me “What are you?” I guess because they didn’t quite know how to ask “Are you American?” I would proudly reply, “Mexican.” It wasn’t until I became a teenager that I claimed I was “Mexican -American.” —Glass Houses [4] In a critical way, Glass Houses also examines the relationship between my mother’s life experience as a Mexican immigrant who settled in the United States and the impact this created on my life. My mother wanted me to live like an “American” with all the rights and privileges and no discrimination. Because I was fair-skinned and lighthaired she thought it would be much easier for me. —Glass Houses [5] In its entirety, Glass Houses is comprised of 32 linked screens...