Latin American WOMEN by Mariangeles Martínez González

Add your artist here with the name, origin, style (brief) and ONE OR MORE (link to a presentation open access) of their main works.

mariangelesmartinezgonzalez — 2024-04-15 11:11:26 UTC

María Izquierdo, Surrealism, Mexico, Alegoría de la libertad

2024-04-16 15:31:05 UTC

Merceditas Validés

2025-02-24 14:26:12 UTC

Cuba, Singer, Afro-Cuban and Santería music. Most well known song Espírituales Cubanos

Rigoberta Menchú

2025-02-26 15:16:21 UTC

Guatemalan human rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner who has devoted her life for advocating for Guatemala's Indigenous population. Famous book is "I, Rigoberta Menchú"

Claudia Sheinbaum

2025-02-27 11:35:50 UTC

She is Mexicos first female President. She was born in Mexico City. She also was a climate scientist as well as an academic. She was sworn into office October 1, 2024. She has a growing supportive community throughout her time in leadership. - Roslyn

Arelys Henao

2025-02-28 16:13:00 UTC

Colombian singer who was titled "La Reina de Musica Popular". Sings Mariachi music and has a bionovela about her life on Netflix!

2025-03-01 19:20:42 UTC

Josely Carvalho is a Brazilian artist based in New York and Rio de Janeiro. She mainly focuses on painting and printmaking, while simultaneously highlighting women's issues as well as social injustice through the contouring of their bodies. She uses the female body as a map to display felt and lived female experiences.

Eva Perón (Evita)

2025-03-02 17:24:28 UTC

Evita was the former First Lady of Argentina, as well as an actress, and activist. Eva Perón was born in Los Toldos west of Buenos Aires. She started working as an actress between 1936 and 1942, starring in several films. In 1946, Eva’s husband, Juan Perón ran for president and won. During Juan Perón’s presidential campaign, Eva played a key role in advocating for women’s political rights. In 1947, Evita played a pivotal role in passing a law that granted Argentine women the right to vote, marking a major milestone in the country’s political history. In 1948, she established the Eva Perón Foundation, which focused on social programs, including the construction of Ciudad Evita, a housing complex for workers. Around this time she also worked on her autobiography, La Razón de mi Vida. After her death, this book became a required reading for government employees. In 1949, Eva founded the Peronist Women’s Party, which she chaired until her passing. In 1950, she was diagnosed with cancer, and in 1952, she died at the age of 33. Despite her short life, Evita’s legacy as an advocate for social justice, women’s rights, and the working class continues to inspire generations in Argentina.

Rosana Paulino- Afro-Brazilian Artist

2025-03-02 18:51:53 UTC

Rosana Paulino was born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1967 where she faced the systemic racism and exclusion that many Black Brazilians face. She is known throughout Brazil for her contemporary style of art. Through print making, drawing, and mixed media, she explores Afro-Brazilian identity, the legacy of slavery, and reclaims the visbility of Black women in Brazilian culture by challenging historical narratives. Her works have an international impact as they are exhibited globally and advocate for racial and gender equality.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u6aiMcfywqmOWrykJPVXKhE5-7DzBlolVavroPcPT9U/edit?usp=sharing

Julia Codesido

2025-03-02 22:59:39 UTC

Julia Codesido was a Peruvian artist from the 20th century. Her art became popular during a time when the patriarchy made it difficult for women to get jobs outside of the home. She was influential during the Indigenismo movement which portrayed marginalized indigenous groups. Julia Codesido was known for her portrayal of indigenous women, often placed in an Andean setting.

Evan Trombly

Marisol Escobar

2025-03-03 14:13:04 UTC

Marisol Escobar was a famous Venezuelan-American woman born on May 22nd, 1930. Marisol spent significant time in between Paris, Venezuela, and Los Angeles throughout her childhood. When Marisol moved to New York City she fell in love with art and grew close to the art community. Marisol grew very popular as she expanded her passion for sculpting and her art career. Marisol specialized in sculpting. Her sculptures stood out for their uniqueness, intense color, and emotions. Through her artwork Marisol portrayed the struggles and "roles" of womanhood, self-identity, and her life experiences.

Marisol passed in April of 2016 but is still greatly remembered for her works and talents.

Ceila Cruz

2025-03-03 16:00:45 UTC

Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. She is known as the "Queen of Salsa". She rose to fame in the 1950s as the lead singer of La Sonora Matancera before moving to the U.S. after the Cuban Revolution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UhVXUztpMQ

Salma Hayek

2025-03-03 16:31:55 UTC

Salma Hayek is one of the most well-recognized Latin American Actresses in the 20-21st century. She was Born in Mexico, September 2, 1966. In furtherance of her career, she started as an actress in the hit Mexican Television Show Series, Teresa, but moved on to appear in many other movies and television shows. Her most notable works on the movie, "Frida", put her on a nomination for the Best Actress Academy Award. With her success, she has also created her own foundation, "The Salma Hayek Foundation", in which she raises money and awareness for battered women, and has since branched out to help fund for disadvantaged children in the streets of Mexico.

Chavela Vargas

2025-03-03 17:08:07 UTC

Costa Rican singer, famous for her distinctive interpretations of Mexican Rancheras.

One of her famous works, "La Llorona", is linked below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNurASQ3JSc

Michelle Bachelet

2025-03-03 19:24:19 UTC

Michelle Bachelet was Chile’s first female president and one of the country’s most respected leaders to date. Born in 1951 in Santiago, Chile, Her father, General Alberto Bachelet, was arrested, tortured, and ultimately killed by Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1974 for opposing his military coup. Michelle and her mother were also captured and tortured before fleeing to East Germany, where she lived in exile.

Despite this, she would later return to Chile in 1979 where she would study medicine. After the dictatorship ended in 1990, she entered politics, becoming Minister of Health in 2000 and later Minister of Defense, the first woman in Latin America to hold that position. Her political rise led to her historic election as president in 2006 as a member of the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia.

During her first term, she focused on education reform, gender equality, and social welfare, expanding free childcare and maternity benefits. She also effectively managed the 2008 global economic crisis, keeping Chile stable economically, and by the end of her term in 2010, she had an 80% approval rating.

Bachelet was re-elected in 2014, where she pushed for free higher education for low-income students, implemented tax reforms, and legalized abortion in limited cases, and a driving force for women’s rights in Chile.

After leaving office in 2018, she became the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for four years, where she investigated human rights abuses in China and Venezuela seeking justice for those wronged. Today, she still remains an influential global advocate for social justice and human rights despite no longer holding office.

Selena Quintanilla

2025-03-04 17:19:15 UTC

Selena Quintanilla (1971-1994), known as the “Queen of Tejano Music”, was a Mexican-American singer who revolutionized Tejano music by blending it with cumbia, pop, and R&B, bringing the genre to mainstream audiences. She gained fame in the late 1980s/early 1990s with hits like Como La Flor and Bidi Bidi Bom Bom, and her 1994 album Amor Prohibido became one of the best-selling Latin albums of all time. She broke barriers as a Latina woman in a male-dominated industry, becoming a cultural icon, influencing both music and fashion. Her life was tragically cut short in 1995 when she was killed at age 23, but her legacy continues to inspire generation’s and pave the way for Latin artists in the American music industry.

https://youtu.be/FwZTgDjRLM0?si=qyd4TcrrnfLtR-2s

https://youtu.be/qPkNVMtMXyc?si=8vE9PXjnnjhzKUiA

Claudia Sheinbaum

2025-03-04 22:33:37 UTC

Mexico’s first female

President. She was born in Mexico City. Claudia also was a climate scientist as well as an academic. She was sworn into office October 1, 2024. She has a growing supportive community throughout her time in leadership. - Roslyn

Kathrin Barboza Márquez

2025-03-05 01:19:52 UTC

Kathrin Barboza Márquez (born 1983) is a Bolivian biologist who is an expert in bat research. In 2006, she and a research partner discovered a species thought to be extinct and in 2010, she was awarded the National Geographic's "Young Explorer Grant". She became the first Bolivian scientist to win a L'Oréal-UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science in 2012 and in 2013 was named by the BBC as one of the top ten Latin American women of science.

Valentina Hernández (Doña Vale)

2025-03-06 15:11:40 UTC

Doña Vale, whose full name is Valentina Hernández, hails from San Mateo Rio Hondo, a small pueblo in Oaxaca. She is a famous Street Food vendor who currently resides in Oaxaca Mexico. In Oaxaca's largest market, is where Doña Vale has been cooking Memelas; a traditional Oaxacan dish, every day for over 30 years. Long before her appearance on Netflix's Street Food Latin America (Season 1 Episode 3, Oaxaca, Mexico), she had already been featured in culinary books, with chefs (and tourists) from all around the world coming to taste her food and document her skills. Despite her fame, she remains grounded. For her, it's about creating something delicious and traditional, representing the culture of every state. The simplicity of her Memelas is topped with her famous morita salsa and lard, quesillo, trasajo, or eggs cooked on a comal. You can find her vendor in the Mercado de Central de Abastos in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Lila Downs

2025-03-06 18:29:53 UTC

Ana Lila Downs Sánchez is a Mexican singer-songwriter known for blending indigenous Mexican influences with pop music. She was born and raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, and began singing at the age of 8. She moved to the United States with her parents at 14, where she studied voice and learned English. She has been an avid social activist throughout her career, and often sings about social issues affecting indigenous people.

- Drew Clune

Karol G

2025-03-06 18:54:36 UTC

Karol G is a Colombian singer and songwriter. She is considered one of the most influential reggaeton and urban pop artists, she has received awards including a Grammy, six Latin Grammy Awards and five Billboard Music Awards. Karol G’s songs are mostly about female empowerment, love, heartbreak, independence, and success.

Laura Esquivel

2025-03-07 08:51:04 UTC

Laura Esquivel Valdés (born September 30, 1950) is a Mexican novelist, screenwriter, and politician, best known for her internationally acclaimed novel, “Like Water for Chocolate” (Como agua para chocolate). Her work blends magical realism with themes of love, tradition, and female empowerment, making her a significant voice in Latin American literature. Esquivel was born in Mexico City and initially pursued a career in education and screenwriting before transitioning to literature. Her breakthrough came in 1989 with " Like Water for Chocolate", a novel that tells the story of Tita, a young woman forbidden to marry her true love due to family traditions. Instead, she expresses her emotions through cooking, with her recipes having magical effects on those who consume them. The book became an international sensation, translated into multiple languages, and adapted into a successful 1992 film, for which Esquivel wrote the screenplay. Beyond her literary career, she has been involved in Mexican politics, advocating for cultural and social issues. Her storytelling, deeply rooted in Mexican traditions and history, continues to captivate readers, making her one of the most influential contemporary Latin American writers.

Victoria Santa Cruz (1922-2014)

2025-03-07 10:52:08 UTC

Victoria Santa Cruz was a peruvian activist , poet, and politician who fought for afro peruvian rights and cultural recognition. As Director of Peru’s National Folklore Institute, Victoria has a major role in promoting and preserving Peruvian heritage through arts and politics. As a government official , she worked on cultural policies, national education, and funding in order to help spread afro Peruvian voices in relation to national identity.