The painting here is made from colored pencils and the picture is one I had taken at a garrita. Las Garritas is what my family would call the local Mexican flea markets where we would go to buy Mexican spices, traditional clothing, or to buy religious artifacts for celebrations. I would always love going there to see all the beautiful dresses and colors that decorated all the clothes. One aspect of the market I did not like was the sexual exploitation of the modern Mexican women. Beer and movie posters of half naked Latinas would be on storefronts, almost all of the mannequins were females with overly exaggerated breasts and butts, and the men at the markets were the most uncomfortable aspect of it all when they catcalled. I wanted to show the exploitation and sexism that the Mexican culture does to women in the media, fashion, and everyday life. The two dresses are the only ones with prices on them as a way of demonstrating their value as objects like how Latinas are treated.

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