Mestizaje: The Feminist Art of Kathy Sosa

A foreword by Sandra Cisneros and five brief essays in both English and Spanish by Sosa and art critics, collectors, and historians provide valuable insight into Sosa’s paintings. Her work represents mestizaje, a fusion of the identities and cultural elements found at the southwestern border of the U.S. Sosa’s influences—Mexican folk art and culture, Matisse’s Fauve palette, and patterns and textiles—are clear, yet her close-up portraits of women featuring bold, saturated planes of color against flat, contrasting colors, and/or vibrant patterns are stunningly fresh. Many of the portraits incorporate Mexico’s popular tree-of-life ceramic sculptures—árboles de la vida—which seem to radiate from the figures or frame them like crowns. The trees, populated by birds and other creatures, figures, blossoms, flags, hearts, Día de los Muertos skeletons, and occasionally words, hint at the sitter’s biographical details and add a touch of whimsy; one essayist notes that some of the árboles surrounding the women’s heads evoke Latin American magical realist literature. More than 178 pages of quality reproductions, many full-page, of works in various media (oil on canvas, paper, collage, installations) illustrate this well-designed book and provide a solid introduction to Sosa’s oeuvre.