RESEARCH:
Las Cholitas
On the streets of La paz in the culturally rich South American country of Bolivia, walk colorful silhouettes of Aymara and Quechan indigenous women also commonly known as Cholitas. In the past cholitas have been publicly discriminated as poor and rural peasants, but have recently risen in Bolivia’s societal scale and are no longer seen as only servants or housemaids.
Today, the women are free to roam the streets of Bolivia with a high top bowler hat, a vibrant fringed shawl, layers of ruffle skirts and kitten heels. In the cholitas’ history, their clothing was a sign of inferiority but they have since gained pride in their vibrant fashions. Although, suppression was experienced, cholitas had always took pride in their culture, now it is communicated in their fashion choices. While there is still a present economic dividein Bolivia, there is some slight progression for equality. With economic progression comes freedom for artistic and eccentric expression, today there are cholita fashion shows and increasingly ostentatious displays of expensive designer chola fashion featured in festivals such as La Paz’s event of the year, Gran Poder.
The extravagant and coquettish attitude of these women is seen on a newer level on Sunday nights. These empowering women have taken inspiration from American WWE wrestling as well as Mexican Lucha Libre fighters and have adapted this form of athleticism and entertainment while maintaining their prideful culture. Dressed formally, these women put on a loud and empowering show.
I find this subculture inspiring, these women are so proud of their heritage and have resorted to a sport that defies existing stereotypes for females.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gates, Hailey. “States of Undress.” States of Undress, season 2, episode 5, Viceland, 11 July 2017.
Dear, Paula. “The Rise of the ‘Cholitas’.” BBC News, BBC, 20 Feb. 2014, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26172313.
Moodboard, sketches, thumbnails
Sketch concepts
Quick paper mock ups, experimenting with a waist extension
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Poncho layout on photoshop
Experimenting with outlining for wood shapes
REFLECTION:
The second project of this semester, students were to create a body extension that was inspired by a subculture in the world. I chose to focus on Las Cholitas, a community of indigenous women who reside in Bolivian villages. In previous times, cholitas have been publicly oppressed in society as poor and rural peasants, but in recent times, the women have gained pride in their heritage, this is specifically practiced in wrestling, this activity represents the women’s strength and bold lifestyles, another aspect that will influence my project.
Throughout the drafting and brainstorming process of this project, I originally wanted to create a piece that represented a skirt, an extension to the female’s torso. There were three specific motifs from the subculture that were eye-catching, the silhouette, the fringe detail on the sash and the linear patterns of Bolivian textiles. I did have difficulty in landing on a final vision, I knew what aspects of the subculture I wanted to include, I had intentions of avoiding a literal representation of las Cholitas. With many discussions with Aviva, I wanted to push my concept of creating a poncho that was constructed with stiff materials and abstract shapes.
Finally, I created a poncho, heavily inspired by the article of clothing that the indigenous women wear, a poncho. I constructed the piece with laser cut wood and jute rope, I wanted to maintain minimalism and utilize the colors of nature in the final piece. Throughout the beginning of the process, I found the silhouettes of las Cholita’s form when fighting, the many layers of petticoats and thick ruffle skirts, I wanted to include this motif in a less obvious depiction. I took photos of las Cholitas, traced the voluminous silhouettes and wanted to use these shapes to create a textured piece, to create volume, I found that topographic maps represented Bolivia’s various landscape and mountain regions. I scaled the shapes for the ability to stack and layer each piece to add weight to the light-weight jute rope. As mentioned bef0re, weaving is a common art form within the indigenous regions of Bolivia, so the base of the poncho is constructed with macrame knots and square knot weaving. In its entity, the piece pulls literal aspects of the country’s culture, but is represented in an abstract way.
Overall, I am happy with my exploration in creating a piece that is less literal, however I feel that my design choices could be seen as too subtle. I really wanted a product that was raw and organic, but I feel that a vibrant, rich color would have added more dimension in the macrame weaving. The lack of color makes the details less visible to the viewer, jute rope is a very light, airy rope, to better execute the macrame weavings, the piece would have benefitted from using a thicker rope and the inclusion of color could have been present in my choice of rope.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
My concept is heavily inspired by the indigenous females, Las Cholitas, whose origin is located in villages in the South American country of, Bolivia, this subculture was once oppressed because of their status on the socioeconomic, in recent years las Cholitas have grown prideful of their culture and openly expressed themselves in one specific recreational activity. Las Cholitas have risen in their performance in fighting, which was heavily influenced by the luche libra fighting in Mexico. I wanted to create a piece that showcases the extravagant silhouettes of las Cholitas’ daily outfit, create an iteration of a piece of their uniform, while using natural materials to represent the importance of nature’s beauty in Bolivia.
To make the piece more interesting, I included macrame, an art of weaving that is practiced by Bolivian aristocrats. To add volume and weight, I laser cut the physical sillouhettes of las Cholitas and used macrame knots to connect the pieces. As an entity, I utilized large cultural aspects of Bolivia and created a poncho that contains meaningful motifs.
