Favianna Rodriguez

Favianna Rodrigiuez is a local artist whose concentration is on printmaking and her posters address social issues she feels haven't received enough recognition. She has addressed issues concerning immigration, the importance of artists expressing their views and the apparent lack of female colored artists being recognized, and, of course, the effect of the war on people in the Middle East wherein her posters had a picture of a women with the text above her head reading genocide does not equal justice and the text below reading "We are not the enemy." Her posters always have very powerful images meant to support her opinion or cause and her posters have been used often in attempt to promote change especially in trying to change how people of color are treated within her own hometown. She created a poster that was put on the billboard outside of the West Oakland Bart in an attempt to stop gentrification in the area, and she was able to place it in a place where it would be seen by many people every day. I appreciated her belief that art doesn't have to be hung in a gallery in order to be considered art. She puts her artwork in public places so that every one can see what message she is trying to get known and I feel like her approach to getting her art seen is more accessible to younger people and people who don't really frequent museums and galleries. She said that her work is often criticized for being propaganda, but even if people look at it as propaganda, she is still able to get people thinking about pressing issues while getting to think creatively about issues that are important to her. One thing that made her talk and work so interesting is that she is from here and she is making art concerning issues that are prevalent to where we live, go to school, and work. She did the leave the lecture on a rather low note by reminding us that we do live in Oakland, the fourth most dangerous city in the world that has an ever-rising homicide rate, but at the same time it's art population is also rising, with which she was probably trying to get the artist's in the audience to remember the issues surrounding them when making their art.