Ester Hernandez

La Virgen de Guadalupe Defendiendo los Derechos de Los Xicanos is a 1975 etching and aquatint.[1] This print is in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Museum of Art[5]

Libertad is a 1976 etching.[1]

Sun Mad is a 1982 serigraph.[1] In this serigraph, the artist turns the widely recognized red-bonneted female figure carrying a basket of grapes on the Sun-Maid raisin box into a skeleton to visually protest insecticides.[8] This screen print is in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles Museum of Art in California,[4] the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC[9] and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.[10]

Describing this image, Hernandez states, "Slowly I began to realize how to transform the Sun Maid and unmask the truth behind the wholesome figures of agribusiness. Sun Mad evolved out of my anger and my fear of what would happen to my family, my community, and to myself."[11]

This image is featured in a 1989 installation titled Sun Mad that is dedicated to the artist's father who was a farm worker from the San Joaquin Valley, California. This installation is in the permanent collection of the National Mexican Museum of Art in Chicago.[12]

La Ofrenda is a 1988 serigraph. This print is in the permanent collections at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC[13] and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.[14]

This print portrays a woman with a short punk-style haircut facing away from spectators while showcasing La Virgen de Guadalupe tattooed on her back. La Virgen de Guadalupe is a symbol representing womanhood and femininity throughout Chicanx history.[15] By depicting this tattoo on a woman, Vincent Carillo argues that Hernández "questions the gendered power dynamics" that restrict women to the domestic sphere.[16]

Sun Raid is a 2008 screen print on paper. This screen print is the permanent collection at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.[17] Hernandez reimagines the classic Sun Mad to condemn the high amounts of workplace raids and the creation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the administration of George W. Bush on the grounds of “national security”.[18] Sun Raid references this national security strategy as a consequence of globalization, stating it as a “by-product of NAFTA”, the North American Free Trade Agreement that went into effect in 1994.[19] Using visual signifiers such as huipil clothing the skeletal figure, and a wrist monitor that says “ICE”, Hernandez connects the effects of globalization to the forced economic and physical displacement of various indigenous communities that made up a portion of undocumented immigrants largely affected by these national security strategies.[18]

Hernández has played a key role in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement.[20] In 2001, Hernández created La Virgen de las Calles (Virgin of the Streets), a pastel print, to represent the hard working Latina women in a glorified and divine perspective.[21]

Most of Hernández's art is controversial but she creates with the purpose of progressing the rights of the underrepresented. Hernández often draws inspiration from her personal heroines, who include Frida Kahlo, Dolores Huerta, and Lydia Mendoza.[3]

La Virgen de las Calles was special to Hernández because it was important for her to depict the love a Chicana mother has for her family, and how many Chicana mothers just like the one in this piece “‘…[often] work day and night to educate their children because they know this is the greatest gift a parent can give a child.’"[22]