Eighteen-century casta paintings are documents of the Colonial caste system imposed by the Spaniards in what is now present-day Mexico. The paintings provided personal information about the subjects such as their race, class and profession---and who comprised their family. The accompanying text went beyond the visual and recorded miscegenation as a tool to exert control over the growing population in New Spain.
The highly stylized casta paintings had many purposes, including to serve as a demonstration of the viability of life in the New World and to document and control miscegenation as well as the evolution of New Spain. Typically, they featured couples and their offspring. In addition, the paintings featured Spanish-language descriptions of imposed identity and everyday objects from both the New and Old Worlds
My paintings are contemporary interpretations of casta paintings and explore the impact and transfer of the Colonial class system in Mexico, as documented by the casta paintings, to present-day class systems in the United States. Rather than focus on the figurative, my focus is on object(s), which bring context when juxtaposed with the racial hierarchy as set forth by Spanish-language text in Casta paintings.
The plants, vegetables and fruits in the background of the paintings are native to the Americas. They provide everyday physical or cultural nourishment and represent the sustainability of individual and indigenous identity across geography, cultures and imposed identity. The everyday objects in the background of the paintings are a reminder of the Colonial-era Casta system that to this day lingers, not as law, but as consequential experiences of oppression and segregation in the Americas. These artworks intend to confront the past and call attention to long-established systems of race, colorism, class and pejorative attitudes toward indigenous Mexicans.