Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
In the early 2000s, Barraza worked as a designer at the Mission Cultural Center. Inspired by Cuban and Chicano posters and mentored by Juan R. Fuentes and Calixto Robles, Todos Somos Ramona references such influences with its flatness, cropping, and simplified shapes. In contrast to earlier artists who used hand-cut stencils and hand-drawn elements, Barraza exclusively uses the computer. In a self-aware continuation of the Chicano poster movement, Barraza later created his own workshop.
Comandante Ramona is an indigenous Zapatista leader. The phrase todos somos… (we are all…) often indicates support for a victim. Here, its meaning is upended, referencing the horizontal leadership of the Zapatista movement and suggesting that we can all be leaders.