Debora Kuetzpal Vasquez’ Citlali: A Chicana Futurism that Reclaims the Past, Recreates the Present, and Reshapes the Future

Chicana futurism art offers a path of subversion and survival in the domestic realm. This presentation argues that the cultural production of queer feminist artivist Debora Kuetzpal Vasquez empowers Chicanas to reclaim their indigenous past and creates a new ontological reality for the present and future that bypasses colonial constraints. Through analyzing Vasquez’s artwork—“Citlali: Hechando Tortillas y Cortando Nopales en Outer Space” and “Citlatli: Cuando Eramos Sanos”—I explore how Chicanas negotiate being healthy (sanos), sacredness, and ecological pride in domestic spaces. I also address Vasquez’s role leading public art workshops and indigenous virtual ceremonies, highlighting how her multi-modal practices cultivate feminist community and promote decolonial strategies. Utilizing Amelia Mesa-Bain’s domesticana and Gloria Anzaldúa’s coyolxauhqui imperative, I show that Vasquez advances Chicana feminist cosmology, kitchen-based relationality, resistance to coloniality, and creates a new reality for Chicanas.