Hernández’s Queen of the Barrio is a woman who, in the artist’s words, is ready to “go out there and change the world.” Although this portrait is not of any particular person, the figure is inspired by women Hernández encountered in her East Los Angeles community. Hernández’s art is often inflected with her political commitments, and she produced this work during the time she was active in the Chicano civil rights movement—a connection referenced by the Mexican and American flags on the figure’s chest. Exploring the visual language of her neighborhood, Hernández incorporated spray paint, the medium of graffiti artists.

Gallery label from

2021

Medium Aerosol spray paint, gesso, and marker on paper
Dimensions 19 3/4 × 24" (50.2 × 61 cm)
Credit Latin American and Caribbean Fund
Object number 23.2020
Department Drawings and Prints

Explore more

Diaspora

Can refer to the movement or dispersal of a group of people with a shared identity or homeland from one place to another, or to the group of people itself.

Learn more →
All works in Diaspora →

Licensing

Artwork or archival images

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

Audio and film clips

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.

Text from a publication or the archives

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.