Sun Raid

Ester Hernandez, Sun Raid, 2008, screenprint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2020.12.2, © 2008, Ester Hernández
Ester Hernandez, Sun Raid, 2008, screenprint on paper, image: 19 34 × 15 in. (50.2 × 38.1 cm) sheet: 29 × 22 14 in. (73.7 × 56.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2020.12.2, © 2008, Ester Hernández

Artwork Details

Title
Sun Raid
Date
2008
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 19 34 × 15 in. (50.2 × 38.1 cm) sheet: 29 × 22 14 in. (73.7 × 56.5 cm)
Copyright
© 2008, Ester Hernández
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Mediums Description
screenprint on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Object — fruit — grape
  • Figure female — fragment — skeleton
  • History — United States — labor history
  • Allegory — death
  • Occupation — farm — harvesting
Object Number
2020.12.2

Artwork Description

Twenty-six years after her original, Hernandez reimagines her classic Sun Mad poster as a condemnation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In addition to changing the title from Sun Mad to Sun Raid, she outfits the calavera (skeleton) with an ICE wrist monitor and a huipil, a traditional indigenous garment. This latter reference suggests how indigenous people from Mexico and Central America represent a segment of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Hernandez issued this print at a time when the George W. Bush administration was being widely criticized for its high level of workplace raids.


¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now, 2020


Description in Spanish

Veintiséis años después de su obra original, Hernandez reimagina su clásico cartel Sun Mad para condenar al Servicio de Inmigración y Aduana de los Estados Unidos (ICE). Además de cambiar el título de Sun MadSun Raid, le agregó à la calavera un monitor de pulsera del ICE y un huipil, que es una prenda de vestir indígena tradicional. Esta última referencia muestra que los pueblos indígenas de México y Centroamérica representan un segmento de los inmigrantes indocumentados de los Estados Unidos. Hernandez publicó este grabado en un momento en que se criticaba mucho al Gobierno de George W. Bush por el gran número de redadas en los lugares de trabajo.

¡Imprimir la revolución! Auge e impacto de las obras gráficas chicanas, desde 1965 hasta hoy, 2020

Works by this artist (10 items)

Carrie Mae Weems, Lincoln, Lonnie, and Me - A Story in 5 Parts, 2012, video installation and mixed media, color, sound; 18:29 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, 2023.9A-G, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Lincoln, Lonnie, and Me — A Story in 5 Parts
Date2012
video installation and mixed media, color, sound; 18:29 minutes
Not on view
Carrie Mae Weems, Suspended Belief, from the series Constructing History, 2008, archival pigment print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2022.48.5, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Suspended Belief, from the series Constructing History
Date2008
archival pigment print
Not on view
Carrie Mae Weems, A Woman Observes, from the series Constructing History, 2008, archival pigment print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2022.48.1, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
A Woman Observes, from the series Constructing History
Date2008
archival pigment print
Not on view

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