Image 1: Image of alter in Las Maestras Center for Xicana Indigenous Thought & Art Practice at UCSB.

Image 2: Header image for “A Rediscovery of Roots,” with triangles, dots, and sun, featuring a drawing of a woman in pink dancing wildly. Drawing by artist Maya Sariahmed.

Image 3: Image of Loteria card with mermaid entitled “La Sirena” with text “The first card represents the present, where UCSB currently stands as a relatively new HSI [Hispanic Serving University]. Despite its institutional flaws, there is a persistence and strength in each student fighting to be a member of this academic world, while embracing their culture.”

Image 4: Hand drawn image of Maestras Moraga and Rodriguez, drawn by artist Dabo Cabaravdic.

Image 5: Image from of chairs and text: As everyone settles into the mismatched chairs that the Maestras brought from home, an air of safety and comfort surrounds us.

We meet to discuss what the Maestras have been working on for months--the opening of the new Las Maestras Center for Xicana Indigenous Thought & Art Practice here at UCSB. The possibility of being involved in the opening of a space that is rooted in Chicana Feminism is what brought us students together.

The Chairs we sit in vary in shape and size, each with their own history and life.

Some are round, other are square, and some taken on a more intricate shape. Different shades of maple, oak, birch, and cherry brown give the wooden chairs a colorful life as if they reflect the melanin from our skin of the women they have served purpose to.

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