La Llorona

Entitled “The Weeping Woman”

For this project, I was inspired by the Mexican folk tale of The Weeping Woman, or “La Llorona”. La Llorona was a married woman with children, and was the most beautiful woman in her village. The stories differ depending on what part of Mexico the story is told, but from my region’s version, La Llorona’s mental state deteriorated when she finds out her husband is cheating on her. On top of spending more time with his mistress, he’s begun to take the children away from her as well. In order to get back at her husband, she drowns the kids in the river. Her husband, now afraid of her and what she’s capable of, leaves her. In La Llorona’s grief of her failed marriage and deceased children, she drowns herself in the same river. She gets the name The Weeping Woman because it is said you can still hear her crying for her children near the Rio Grande.

I interpreted La Llorona’s story to that of toxic masculinity (“machismo”) within Mexican culture. Why should it be La Llorona who becomes villainized when it was the people around her who became detrimental to her mental health? In order to aid that narrative, I utilized personal stories where I encountered sexism or “machismo” in my life, as well as instances where I was forced to put on a motherly role. I was inspired by vintage horror movie posters, and illustrated five posters based on the emotion the stories emulate that in turn, perfectly illustrate La Llorona’s deterioration into insanity. The stories are all written in Spanish and were printed 18” x 24”.

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