Brainstorm 7 - Emilia Garcia-Bompadre

The week 6 readings we did on Chicanxfuturism focused a lot on Chicanxfuturist artwork, which created a dialogue about Chicanas and feminism with science and technology. Julio Salgado's art generates a similar idea. By channeling these ideas and challenges of being 'undocuqueer', Salgado creates art that evokes conversations about undocumented immigrants and being of a borderlands identity. Often, 'queer' and 'undocumented' stand as two separate minority identities, but Salgados art puts them in conversation with each other, similar to Martinez' work in Deus ex Machina which puts Chicanas and science in conversation with each other. 

The use of social media to spread ideas and art relating to undocumented and queer identities allows it to be more widespread and accessible to people. Sasha Constanza-Chock writes about different forms of online media activism, one of which is Julio Salgado's work. Salgado links his artwork to actions viewers can take, such as petitions and campaigns (Gonzalez-Chock, 140). By making activism and knowledge  about minority groups so widely accessible, artivistas like Julio Salgado are rejecting social death, making themselves known and open for everybody even with little resources. Online art, especially comedy videos such as the "Undocumented and Awkward" series, are user-friendly and make it easy for anybody to get some understanding of what it's like to be undocumented, without having to read a long scholarly article. The accessibility of social media activism is key for creating more conversations about undocumented immigrants and Chicanx activism.