Welcome to Historias de la Alondra: Lydia Mendoza Stories Through Artists' Eyes, a digital exhibit celebrating the life and legacy of Lydia Mendoza through audio and visual storytelling.
For this exhibit, we invited eight artists with ties to the U.S.-Mexico border region to reinterpret key stories from Lydia Mendoza’s oral histories. Working from the Arhoolie Foundation’s Mendoza Family Interviews collection, these artists breathe new life into the moments that defined Lydia's life in music. Their visual stories testify to Lydia’s enduring status as a Mexican American cultural icon.
We hope Historias de La Alondra (Stories of the Lark) inspires you to dive deeper into Lydia Mendoza’s extraordinary life and the world that shaped her. We also hope this exhibit inspires you to find creative ways to bring the stories of your family and community to life.
Welcome to Historias de la Alondra: Lydia Mendoza Stories Through Artists' Eyes, a digital exhibit celebrating the life and legacy of Lydia Mendoza through audio and visual storytelling.
For this exhibit, we invited eight artists with ties to the U.S.-Mexico border region to reinterpret key stories from Lydia Mendoza’s oral histories. Working from the Arhoolie Foundation’s Mendoza Family Interviews collection, these artists breathe new life into the moments that defined Lydia's life in music. Their visual stories testify to Lydia’s enduring status as a Mexican American cultural icon.
We hope Historias de La Alondra (Stories of the Lark) inspires you to dive deeper into Lydia Mendoza’s extraordinary life and the world that shaped her. We also hope this exhibit inspires you to find creative ways to bring the stories of your family and community to life.
Joel Bernal
A native of the Rio Grande Valley, Joel Bernal's influences include the writer Juan Rulfo, José Guadalupe Posadas, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jorge González Camarena, Julio Ruelas, and the French illustrator Gustave Doré. Bernal proudly draws inspiration from Mexican music and its early composers and performers. His artwork, akin to Rulfo's creations, omits facial features, portraying skulls not with any sense of reverence or malice, but rather to convey a sense of anonymity, enabling viewers from all walks of life to connect with the pieces.
Isabel Ann Castro
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Isabel Ann Castro (BFA in Communication Design from Texas State University) is a versatile artist who has developed a career as an accomplished illustrator. Being an active member of the local arts community, Castro co-founded the St. Sucia Collective, an international Latina/x feminist magazine focused on contemporary literature and art. Additionally, Castro has been active as a co-organizer of the San Antonio Zine Fest and DJs under the name “Bueno Kitty."
Jacinto Guevara
San Antonio-based artist/musician Jacinto Guevara has been painting and drawing since a young age. His professional career as a painter began in the late 1980s while living in the Skid Row and Little Tokyo neighborhoods of downtown Los Angeles. The urban scenery, old buildings, and everyday life scenes informed a style that would develop into his Urban Landscape series, a project that he expanded when he moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1992.
Bárbara De La Garza
Bárbara De La Garza is a Mexican illustrator and art therapist. Born and raised in Monterrey, Nuevo León, her art is inspired by her childhood love of fairy tales and fantasy stories. She holds a postgraduate degree in creative illustration and a master's degree in art therapy.
Belinda Salazar
Muralist Belinda Salazar, a native of Monterrey, Nuevo León, began her artistic journey at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, focusing on figurative art. Salazar's work is heavily influenced by Latin American magical realism, as well as prominent Mexican muralists and surrealistic painters. She has participated in different urban art festivals throughout Mexico, as well as in Germany and the United States.
Sergio Sánchez Santamaría
Sergio Sánchez Santamaría is a printmaker, muralist, and illustrator based in Mexico City. He received his Fine Arts degree from the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving. Sánchez Santamaría has exhibited his work throughout Latin America, Europe, the United States, Japan, and China. His work is at the forefront of a contemporary revival of social printmaking in Mexico.
Emmanuel Tanús
Emmanuel Tanús is an artist, illustrator, and graphic designer from Libres, in the Mexican state of Puebla, focused on traditional printmaking techniques. In addition to his graphic art, Tanús has developed a successful career as a musician, being the guitarist of the Mexican rock band Té de Brujas.
Lexx Valdez
Alexandra “Lexx” Valdez (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based graphic designer and visual artist. Her work is rooted in the legacy of mutual support, resourcefulness, and innovation often expressed in Indigenous knowledge and communities of color.
About the Artists
Joel Bernal
A native of the Rio Grande Valley, Joel Bernal's influences include the writer Juan Rulfo, José Guadalupe Posadas, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jorge González Camarena, Julio Ruelas, and the French illustrator Gustave Doré. Bernal proudly draws inspiration from Mexican music and its early composers and performers. His artwork, akin to Rulfo's creations, omits facial features, portraying skulls not with any sense of reverence or malice, but rather to convey a sense of anonymity, enabling viewers from all walks of life to connect with the pieces.
Isabel Ann Castro
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Isabel Ann Castro (BFA in Communication Design from Texas State University) is a versatile artist who has developed a career as an accomplished illustrator. Being an active member of the local arts community, Castro co-founded the St. Sucia Collective, an international Latina/x feminist magazine focused on contemporary literature and art. Additionally, Castro has been active as a co-organizer of the San Antonio Zine Fest and DJs under the name “Bueno Kitty."
Jacinto Guevara
San Antonio-based artist/musician Jacinto Guevara has been painting and drawing since a young age. His professional career as a painter began in the late 1980s while living in the Skid Row and Little Tokyo neighborhoods of downtown Los Angeles. The urban scenery, old buildings, and everyday life scenes informed a style that would develop into his Urban Landscape series, a project that he expanded when he moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1992.
Bárbara De La Garza
Bárbara De La Garza is a Mexican illustrator and art therapist. Born and raised in Monterrey, Nuevo León, her art is inspired by her childhood love of fairy tales and fantasy stories. She holds a postgraduate degree in creative illustration and a master's degree in art therapy.
Belinda Salazar
Muralist Belinda Salazar, a native of Monterrey, Nuevo León, began her artistic journey at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, focusing on figurative art. Salazar's work is heavily influenced by Latin American magical realism, as well as prominent Mexican muralists and surrealistic painters. She has participated in different urban art festivals throughout Mexico, as well as in Germany and the United States.
Sergio Sánchez Santamaría
Sergio Sánchez Santamaría is a printmaker, muralist, and illustrator based in Mexico City. He received his Fine Arts degree from the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving. Sánchez Santamaría has exhibited his work throughout Latin America, Europe, the United States, Japan, and China. His work is at the forefront of a contemporary revival of social printmaking in Mexico.
Emmanuel Tanús
Emmanuel Tanús is an artist, illustrator, and graphic designer from Libres, in the Mexican state of Puebla, focused on traditional printmaking techniques. In addition to his graphic art, Tanús has developed a successful career as a musician, being the guitarist of the Mexican rock band Té de Brujas.
Lexx Valdez
Alexandra “Lexx” Valdez (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based graphic designer and visual artist. Her work is rooted in the legacy of mutual support, resourcefulness, and innovation often expressed in Indigenous knowledge and communities of color.
Thank you for visiting Historias de La Alondra: Lydia Mendoza Stories Through Artists' Eyes. We see the current version of the exhibition as more of a beginning than an end. Over the coming year, we plan to share the site with artists and teachers in our local Bay Area community to generate new, community-sourced art submissions. We also plan to create teaching materials to highlight key historical themes from the exhibition.
In the meantime, we welcome your comments and questions at info@arhoolie.org.
Project Team
Juan Antonio Cuéllar, Co-Curator and Artist Liaison
Clark Noone, Co-Curator and Writer
Juan Manuel Hernández Chico, Curatorial Assistant
Adam Machado, Project Director and Editor
Maggie Harrison, Reviewer
Community Reviewers
Suzanne Guerra, former State Historian with the California State Office of Historic Preservation.
Biel Delgado Trabal, community archivist, La Peña Cultural Center.
Daniel Gallegos, independent artist.
Hannah Weber, archivist, Minnesota Public Radio.
Bonnie Cisneros, independent artist, DJ, and educator.
Rebecca Hernandez, community archivist, UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives.
Translation
José Antonio Trejo
Source Materials
The development of the exhibit revolved around Lydia Mendoza: A Family Autobiography (1993), compiled by Chris Strachwitz and his collaborator James "Jaime" Nicolopulos. The book, a narrative-style transcription of the Mendoza interviews with introductory remarks by Strachwitz, has guided our framing of the interviews, artwork, and historical context in this exhibit. We are forever grateful to Chris and Jaime for collecting Lydia's oral histories with such care and dedication.
We also wish to cite the work of ethnic studies scholar Yolanda Broyles-González, whose book Lydia Mendoza's Life in Music: La Historia de Lydia Mendoza, is the first scholarly work based on direct testimony from Lydia Mendoza. Broyles-Gonzalez's 2010 essay "Mal Hombre," which accompanied the song's addition to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry, helped add important context on gender and Mexican American identity to this exhibit.
Finally, we honor the work of the late Agustín Gurza of the Los Angeles Times, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and UCLA Digital Library's Frontera Collection website. Gurza's short Lydia Mendoza biography was indispensable to the Timeline section of the exhibit.
We extend our deepest gratitude to all who contributed their time and expertise to this exhibition.
Acknowledgments
Thank you for visiting Historias de La Alondra: Lydia Mendoza Stories Through Artists' Eyes. We see the current version of the exhibition as more of a beginning than an end. Over the coming year, we plan to share the site with artists and teachers in our local Bay Area community to generate new, community-sourced art submissions. We also plan to create teaching materials to highlight key historical themes from the exhibition.
In the meantime, we welcome your comments and questions at info@arhoolie.org.
Project Team
Juan Antonio Cuéllar, Co-Curator and Artist Liaison
Clark Noone, Co-Curator and Writer
Juan Manuel Hernández Chico, Curatorial Assistant
Adam Machado, Project Director and Editor
Maggie Harrison, Reviewer
Community Reviewers
Suzanne Guerra, former State Historian with the California State Office of Historic Preservation.
Biel Delgado Trabal, community archivist, La Peña Cultural Center.
Daniel Gallegos, independent artist.
Hannah Weber, archivist, Minnesota Public Radio.
Bonnie Cisneros, independent artist, DJ, and educator.
Rebecca Hernandez, community archivist, UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives.
Translation
José Antonio Trejo
Source Materials
The development of the exhibit revolved around Lydia Mendoza: A Family Autobiography (1993), compiled by Chris Strachwitz and his collaborator James "Jaime" Nicolopulos. The book, a narrative-style transcription of the Mendoza interviews with introductory remarks by Strachwitz, has guided our framing of the interviews, artwork, and historical context in this exhibit. We are forever grateful to Chris and Jaime for collecting Lydia's oral histories with such care and dedication.
We also wish to cite the work of ethnic studies scholar Yolanda Broyles-González, whose book Lydia Mendoza's Life in Music: La Historia de Lydia Mendoza, is the first scholarly work based on direct testimony from Lydia Mendoza. Broyles-Gonzalez's 2010 essay "Mal Hombre," which accompanied the song's addition to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry, helped add important context on gender and Mexican American identity to this exhibit.
Finally, we honor the work of the late Agustín Gurza of the Los Angeles Times, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and UCLA Digital Library's Frontera Collection website. Gurza's short Lydia Mendoza biography was indispensable to the Timeline section of the exhibit.
We extend our deepest gratitude to all who contributed their time and expertise to this exhibition.
Historias de La Alondra has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Historias de La Alondra has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.