Dolores, a Warrior for All Living Beings

This artwork honors the life and work of civil rights activist, Dolores Huerta, and is titled, "Dolores, a Warrior for All Living Beings." Commissioned by the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University, the piece depicts our human relationship to nature and all of its creatures. For over 50 years, Dolores has stood for workers who are most connected to the land, and who suffer when corporations poison the soil with monocropping and petrochemicals.

The piece shows Mother Earth embracing the planet and imagining a world of equality and health for all living creatures. As a vegetarian, Dolores advocates for all living beings and hence I included other forms of life, including a traditional Xolo dog also known as the Xoloitzcuintli. The plant leaves represent the foundation of life, since plants helped terraform the earth. And finally, I included a monarch butterfly because Dolores has advocated for immigrant workers all of her life. Dolores represents our shared humanity that is the foundation of our social relations and of human dignity.

This monotype collage on a wood panel allowed me to experiment with natural forms such as leaves and foliage. While my first monotype collages on wood surfaces were completed in 2016, I took a break from this approach in 2017, and I delved back into this combo more intentionally in 2018.