Dona Marina, Cortes’ Translator: Painting, Santa Barraza

A representation of Malinche painted by a renowned Chicana visual artist and teacher from Texas. It depicts the beautiful, life-giving Malintzin, is a tiny image, crafted on metal, and meant to evoke ex-voto and other devotional images from Mexico. Malinche appears as a beautiful young woman with her gaze turned down so that she does not meet our eyes. Behind her appear references to the Spanish conquest, the introduction of Christianity, and violence of both. While it does not deny the horrors of Christian conquest, it paints a world where beauty and violence co-exist.

This source is a part of the Doña Marina, Cortés' Translator teaching module.