Hipertexto y biculturalidad en dos proyectos autobiográficos de las artistas latinas Lucia Grossberger Morales y Jacalyn Lopez Garcia

A number of critics have identified the concept of hypertext as ideally suited to conveying the complexities of living with/between two or more cultures, homelands, temporalities, belief systems and/or aesthetic sensibilities. However, many others have feared the rampant growth of the internet, facilitated by its hypertextual architecture, precisely because of its potential to impose US culture and values on less dominant groups the world over. Sidestepping such concerns, two prominent Latina/Chicana artists working with digital and networked media in the mid 1990s did indeed identify the expressive possibilities of hypertext as most suited to their autobiographical explorations of biculturality. This article explores the artistic works produced as a result: Latina artist Lucia Grossberger Morales”s Sangre Boliviana (1992-2002) and Chicana artist Jacalyn Lopez Garcia”s Glass Houses (1997). It considers the artists’ intentions regarding the representation of a specifically gendered biculturality in their works and how, in their view, a hypertextual (and possibly networked) medium is most suited to this. It also examines the various tropes they use to “visualise” their expression of gendered biculturality, particularly with regards to their pertinence to the new media in which they are working.