Artist breaks apart labels

The color has yet to be added to the faces in Ruby Chacon's Salt Lake City studio, but the emotion is there.

The canvases' under-paintings show the pride, the thoughtfulness and in some cases, the defiance, in the faces that will be displayed this fall at Westminster College.

Chacn says the upcoming exhibit of Utah Latinos is "about breaking apart labels," both those created by society and those embraced by individuals.

"In the end it's really about the human experience," Chacon said.

She said the label "Hispanic," used by the U.S. government, and many white Americans, doesn't take into account the many cultural experiences of the people it includes.

"I may say Chicana, somebody else Colombian," she said. "People embrace different labels, different cultural histories."

Chacon, a Utah native, said she embraces the label Chicana so that young people can see her success and also embrace it. At the same time, she says, she just wants to be an artist.

"It's really kind of a dilemma," she said.

For this exhibit, Chacon says she'll paint up to 16 portraits of people as diverse as the labels they've placed on themselves.

One model, Mary Ann Villarreal, University of Utah professor of history and ethnic studies, said she's originally from Texas, so she's a "Tejana," but academically she calls herself "Latina."

"We're lumped into a Spanish-surname category," she said. "There are some incredible, marked differences among us, educationally, socioeconomically, politically.

"I hope it's an opportunity for people to ask questions," she said.

Univision reporter Jaqueline Hurtado calls herself "Mexican American." She's originally from Mexico, was raised here and is American.

In general, she said, she's noticed that anyone who speaks Spanish is called a "Mexican," but not everyone is from Mexico. Hurtado said one label she wants to free herself from in the exhibit is that of "reporter."

"People can see I'm a regular human being like everyone else," she said. "I'm looking forward to this, as long as (Chacon) portrays everyone just equally. . . . We're all equal no matter what."

Another model, community activist Tony Yapias, says he's "just an ordinary Utah Latino."