2. ¿Quién es Soraida Martinez?
Latina artist, Soraida Martinez is a
fine artist and graphic designer of
Puerto Rican heritage who is
known as the creator of
Verdadism.
This painting genre is a form of
hard-edge abstraction and
consists of two distinct, yet integral
parts: the visual component and
the written commentary.
Soraida created the word
Verdadism by combining the
Spanish word for truth (Verdad)
and the English suffix for theory
(ism).
This art style, which was created
in 1992, has influenced the work
of many contemporary artists and
writers; it is also being used by
educators nationwide to teach
diversity and tolerance.
Soraida was born in New York City
in 1956 and since 1986 has been
in business as the owner of an art
and design studio.
3. Verdadism paintings
My Verdadism paintings are about a
deeper understanding of the human
soul, tolerance and to promote
respect for all human beings. All
Verdadism paintings are juxtaposed
with social commentaries,which are
all based on my life experiences.
4. What Prejudice Looks like
What Prejudice Looks
like
I always thought that
prejudice never looked
evil but idiotic, because
prejudice is a pre-
conceived idea and is not
logical; therefore,
prejudice is incoherent
and stupid. The figure in
What Prejudice Looks
Like embodies the
awkwardness and the
unbalanced psyche of the
prejudice human being.
The arms cross the neck
of the figure to show the
strangling of the soul
when it is prejudice.
5. Puerto Rican Stereotype
"Throughout my life, I have met lots of
people that have never experienced
meeting or getting to know a Puerto
Rican woman. I have had some people
admit to me their feelings on what they
thought a Puerto Rican woman looked
and acted like. Puerto Rican
Stereotype: The Way You See Me
Without Looking At Me is a satirical
painting on the false information given
to me by the media and other life
experiences. The bowl of fruit on the
head represents my childhood
memories of Hollywood's 'Carmen
Miranda' portrayal of women from
Spanish-Speaking backgrounds. The
tray in the hands is also from
Hollywood's prevalent image of Puerto
Rican women as domestic help. The
bold colors show the stereotype of
loudness that is assumed as to how
Puerto Rican women dress. The
obvious colorful female genitalia
shows the Puerto Rican woman's
place in society as ornaments."
6. Interracial Family
"This painting is about the second
marriage of my mother to my
stepfather, who died six years ago. My
stepfather was a Puerto Rican of
African ancestry, while my mother is a
fair skin Puerto Rican of Spanish
ancestry. As a teenager, I always liked
to observe people and evaluate
situations. I remember the looks they
both got when they would walk into
restaurants and other public places.
But the worst part was when my
stepfather was dying and I overheard a
nurse joke to another nurse that she
didn't know that my mother was his
wife because "she's white and he's
black." The two large figures in
Interracial Family: The Way Society
Sees It portray different races, with the
third smaller figure representing the
union of these two different races. It is
the child figure that shows the
inbalance and awkwardness with which
society sees interracial relationships. I
think that Interracial Family: The Way
Society Sees It is a painting that
portrays the eerie feeling prejudiced
people experience when they see two
people of different races get together."
7. Speaking to the labeled Kids
"In this society everything is
labeled, especially our kids.
The school system is full of
labels: our slow learners; our
special-ed kids; our minority
kids; our high-IQ kids; our low-
IQ kids. Many children are
introduced into the world with a
label on their back.
Unfortunately, when a child is
faced with a label, he or she
has to either live up to it or live
down to it, which is very toxic
to a young mind that is just
being developed. Through my
art, I try to let kids know that
labels are just labels. That I too
had many labels placed on me
which I overcame and that they
too can overcome their labels."
8. Please,Stop Calling us Minorities
"In this society many words
have double meanings. I
feel that everyone that has
been called a minority at
one time or another has felt
that something is wrong. We
have been conditioned to
think that this is OK, but it is
not. Our young people feel
the impact of the bad
connotations and because
of this will start to act like
second-class citizens. Let's
just be who we are: Puerto
Ricans, Cubans, Koreans,
African-Americans and so
on. Let's not allow the
government and mainstream
America be too lazy to refer
to us by our proper origin."
9. Contesta lo siguiente:
¿Cómo te sientes al ver estas obras
de arte?
¿Cuál obra te impresionó o te gustó
más? ¿por qué?
¿Cuál fue la menos que te gustó y
por qué?
