Vietnam Aztlan Chicano: Vietnam Fuera

Montoya, M. (1973) Vietnam Aztlan Chicano: Vietnam Fuera [out] [Offset lithograph on paper]. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.

In Malaquias Montoya’s Vietnam Aztlan Chicano, the fist is used slightly differently, as it is not raised in the air. Rather, two fists join the two groups featured on the poster: Vietnamese people and Chicano people. On the top of the poster are the words Vietnam and Aztlan. Vietnam and Aztlan are the homes of both groups: Vietnam being the (at this point in time) occupied home of the Vietnamese and Aztlan being the mythical home of the Aztec people, that is, where they believe they descended from. The Aztec (or Mexica) heritage is the one on which Chicano (an identity held by some Mexican American people) identity is based on. The phrases below both describe winning a goal through the strategy of solidarity. At the bottom of the poster is the word “FUERA,”, which translated from Spanish to English means “Out.”.