The Codex Delilah, Six Deer:A Journey From Machica to Chicana

Growing up as a white male from a small rural town in Texas all that I was introduced to in high school involving race was the clash between whites and African-Americans. That is until college where I was exposed in an anthropology class that the issue of racism reaches a much broader spectrum than I realized. In relation to Delilah Montoya's Codex Delilah, Six Deer: A Journey From Machina to Chicana, I learned the racial affairs of Latin America. During and after the times of the Spanish conquistadors a small percentage (less than 5%) of Spanish and Portuguese rulers dominated the native populations of Latin America. Over time, the interrelationships producing mestizos and mulattos became the the major portion of the population. However, to be a mestizo or mulatto was to be racially discriminated against. There is still a uneasy persona between natives, foreigners, and multiracial people of Latin America today.

Delilah produced an artistic book, Codex Delilah, Six Deer: A Journey From Machina to Chicana, in which she portrays a more feminine side of the story of the Native and European encounter. She takes note that women have always been undermined and plain ignored. Through her fictional character, she is able to present past and present issues that have arisen due to the European influence on the native people. Through journey, the character is exposed to the past and as to how they as a culture have arrived to the present in order to find enlightenment and what it means to live a multiracial life. 

With this piece, Delilah is able to visually represent a social issue that still has remnants in todays society. Through her three-panel "story board" she depicts the struggles of not only multiracial Latin Americans but also the struggle with feminism. It is impressive how her art has been uplifted into a new crowd that may not be aware of the struggles. Art is powerful through it she has brought awareness, not only to viewers, but to herself.