Yolanda M. López (1942-2021), was one of the most influential Chicana artists. She was born in San Diego, California in 1942. The eldest daughter of three, she was raised by her mother and her mother’s parents in the Logan Heights neighborhood in SD. After graduating high school, Lopez moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and in 1968 became part of the San Francisco State University Third World Strike. She also worked as a community artist in the Mission District with a group called Los Siete de la Raza. In 1975 Lopez received her B.A. in Painting and Drawing from San Diego State University and in 1979 went on to get her Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from the University of California San Diego. Here, she produced her iconic Guadalupe series, that changed the course of Chicanx feminist art. This series explores different iterations of the Virgin, her connections to Aztec deity Tonantzin, while being inspired in the everyday lives of the women in her life. On Sept 3 of 2020 Yolanda López passed away leaving a profound legacy as an artist, activist, and educator.
