Short Essay #4
Smile Now, Cry Later / Sonríe ahora, llora después, 2017 by Tlacolulokos, Dario Canul and Cosijoesa Cernas.
The renowned Mexican artists Tlacolulokos in a series of their works celebrates dedicated to the celebration of the Zapotec language, the culture of Oaxaca, and the indigenous people of Mexico.
Today the population of the Zapotec peoples is about 500k and they represent one of the largest indigenous groups in Mexico. Los Angeles is home to the largest population of indigenous Oaxacans outside of Mexico.
This is what the collection of artworks by Tlacolulokos is devoted to. The authors explore the intersection between the lives and experiences of the many immigrants from Oaxaca who have forged new lives in California.
This work is important and interesting because, in this piece of art (and many others from this collection by Tlacolulokos), we can see the contradiction between the modern and traditional culture of the people of Latin America. In this image, we can see at the same time the modern image of a girl and a boy - iPhone, selfies, sneakers, a cap - all these are attributes of fashionable and modern culture, however, if we look from another side, we will see that the attributes of traditionally culture: girl clothes, traditional patterns, Catholic images, and attributes.
Perhaps the author wants to convey to us that despite the fact that many immigrants from Oaxaca live in Los Angeles, they do not try to forget their culture even through the smallest details in their lifestyle.
Thus, this work shows us that we should not forget our culture, and we should be proud of it.