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Document Type
Text
Broad Creation Date
2025
Language
English
Location
Portland
Abstract
This project applies Mikhail Bakhtin's polyphonic semiotics to Chicano street art, and asks whether the Nahuatl mask, as an instrument of dialogic iconography embodied in Chicano street aesthetic becomes a novel example of a polyphonic aesthetic struggle. I define Chicano street art as a cultural aesthetic that borrows from Mexican American traditions of art, folklore, and mythology wherein the subject/ object relationship comes into focus as a pivotal element in the architectonics embedded in street art aesthetics. The concept of aesthetic struggle is defined as a perpetual friction of identity politics, revealed around a close reading of Bakhtin’s understanding of Immanuel Kant, specifically the Russian’s knowledge of the Subject/ Object.
In this dissertation, I argue that the transcendent characteristics of the Nahuatl mask, namely its gravitation towards time and space, unveil a dialogic interpretation of Chicano street art as a polyphonic aesthetic. By engaging with an investigation of Bakhtinian semiotics, Chicano street art promotes a transhistorical and transgeographical navigation of thought, a perspective rarely seen but suspected in the shamanistic practices of the Nahuatl people. The goal is to find fruitful understandings to recognize the contributions of Chicano street art as a polyphonic aesthetic capable of furthering a new aesthetic that catalyzes struggle and resistance. Chicano street art, thus, is propelled beyond a linear temporality into a state of polyphonic proliferation. The result is a new aesthetic that transcends time and space through the empowerment of the Chicano people.
Keywords: Bakhtin, Mask, Chronotope, Street Art, Chicano, Nahuatl
Disciplines
Aesthetics | Art Practice | Chicana/o Studies | Graphic Design | Illustration | Painting | Philosophy
Publisher
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts
City
Portland ME
Recommended Citation
Milián, Marvin R., "CHICANO STREET ART AS VISUAL CONCERT: VOICING ANCESTRAL MEMORY" (2026). Academic Research and Dissertations. 77.
https://digitalmaine.com/academic/77
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