Collection of the DePaul Art Museum, Art Acquisition Endowment
Made/Created
Artist
Hernandez, Ester
Date made
2008
Ethnography
Notes
North America
United States
Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Inscription
Location
throughout recto
Transcription
text throughout print
Material/Technique
Ink
Type
Inscription
Location
recto BC
Transcription
14/15 "Sun Raid" [signature] Copyright 08
Material/Technique
graphite
Type
Inscription
Location
recto BL
Transcription
image of a crown
Material/Technique
impression in paper
Lexicon
Getty AAT
Concept
Mexican American, Hispanic American, modern North American, modern American, Americas, The
Hierarchy Name
Styles and Periods (hierarchy name)
Facet
Styles and Periods Facet
Dimensions
Dimension Description
image
Width
15 in
Length
19-3/4 in
Dimension Description
sheet
Width
22-1/8 in
Length
28-1/2 in
Exhibitions
Fires Will Burn: Politically Engaged Art from the Permanent Collection
A Matter of Conscience
LATINXAMERICAN
Interpretative Labels
Label Type
Cultural/Historical Context
Label
The daughter of Mexican and Yaqui farm workers, Ester Hernandez creates symbols of her Chicana identity while highlighting the political and social injustices inflicted on Latinx populations in the United States. In Sun Raid, Hernandez transforms a familiar raisin box to make a statement about the situation many farm workers face in the United States. The wholesome face normally found on the front of the box is changed into a skeletal farm worker wearing a huipil, a native Mexican dress. The figure also wears a security-monitoring bracelet labeled ICE (Immigrations and Customs Agents), signifying looming deportation. Hernandez writes the names of Mexican indigenous groups from the Oaxaca area because they make up a large number of farm workers in the United States. The artist's concern for farm workers can be traced back to her well-known 1982 print titled Sun Mad in which she transformed the same raisin box into a statement about the overuse of pesticides and its effect on our bodies and the environment.