Are You My Other?

The controversy you alerted me to this week reminded me of this image I made in 2006.  I am still amazed by the strong reactions this trope elicits.  The mask does not define ME.

I AM sorry to say I am at least temporarily obsessed with this news. On the one hand, I don’t want to draw any more attention to it than it already has gotten. On the other, this case is so interesting because it is happening on the internet under the guise of post modern art. Not to mention, ME was a fan. I AM not ME, and I did not know who Ask a Chola was.

When Ask a Chola got “outed” this week as not being the “chola” she claimed to be, people in the West Coast Latino arts and culture community got mad. Most of those angered by the charade had never heard of her before, and many former fans admit that they knew there was something fake about this self proclaimed “hyper-real … new media artist/cultural critic/anarchist/killer/blogger/chola.” The REAL problem with Ask a Chola is not whether she is White or “brownfacing,” but rather that she is only presenting one problematic possibility for her identity as a commanding, absurd representation of “la Raza, or Aztlan.”

ME and I AM representing a multiplicity of identities as one entity. I AM ME, and we are All and No One. White +Brown+ Black = a grey area, not a singularity. Look in the mirror, not through the screen. The internet is not a TV. Postmodern art is not mainstream comedy. Ask a Chola is NOT ME. I AM ME, and we are a multitude.

xo AM