La Cyclona

La Cyclona is a huge example of performance art in the Chicanx movement, which I learned about in my LALS class. Robert Legoretta, a queer Chicanx man, took up the persona of Cyclona, a character (based on a Chicanx Lesbian) who sported drag-inspired outfits, and eccentric makeup, and who is famously known for “A Chicano Wedding” that happened to be gay. This performance art, compared to the visual art of the movement, was more radical in the sense that it provided representation for Chicanx individuals whose identities were invalidated and harmed by other members within the Chicanx movement. Not only was Robert Legoretta’s performance as Cyclona art radical in that it paid tribute to the LGBTQ+ individuals that Chicanx activists opposed, but it was also radical in a very physical way in terms of vulnerability. Whereas Chicanx visual artists and writers can separate their bodies from their pieces of work, Cyclona was inextricable from Legoretta’s body, making him victim to near-death experiences, police brutality, and physical violence from people in his own community. The Cyclona’s mere existence in a heteronormative, white supremacist society, and even more specifically in the Chicanx movement, was a clear message to Americans and Chicanxs alike.