Jacqueline Valenzuela is the kind of multidisciplinary artist who doesn’t always get the recognition she deserves. Valenzuela is a Chicana East LA native who has been immersed in the world of lowrider culture for years. Not just that, she has made a point to use her art to shed light on underrepresented communities within a space where she remains an anomaly, even after all these years and starting the Prophets Car Club.
Remezcla had a chance to sit down with Valenzuela to talk about lowrider culture, being a Latina in the space, telling her parents she wanted to be an artist, and being featured in a special edition of Lowrider magazine thanks to a partnership between Modelo and MotorTrend. And yes, Valenzuela admitted it was “very intimidating at first.”
“I come from an immigrant household so I didn’t really have lowriders in my actual family.” But her fiancé introduced her to cars, and though she admits it’s been uncomfortable at times and some car clubs still don’t let women sit in during meetings, “overall it’s a great experience” that has transformed into her work being featured in museums, galleries, cultural spaces, and social media.
Valenzuela says that “the purpose of my work is to highlight the great experience to kind of battle the bad,” she told us, adding that “there is still that idea of hyper-sexualization and not really embracing that women can own cars.” This comes from a long history of women being used as props to sell lowrider culture, ignoring that women have been part of lowrider culture since the very beginning.
Those women persevered. And so did Valenzuela, who now inspires a new generation. And not just of little girls, Valenzuela shares. One particular woman she painted “her name’s Monique,” she told us, “Her son is actually pursuing a degree in art now because he met me,” and followed the whole process of interviewing his mom and painting her. “I know me growing up I didn’t know that I could be an artist and it’s great to know that I’m not only having that impact for the art world but also for those that are interested in more creative outlets.”
For her parents, however, it was kind of hard to process that Valenzuela wanted to be an artist who used bold colors and lowrider custom paint to “emphasize femininity” in a male-dominated space. Such is the Latine way. “It was intense at first,” she shared. “I think now my parents kind of have a better understanding of what I’m doing,” since she’s getting fellowships and grants and doing museum shows.
“I think they’re like oh, okay like you’re actually doing something. But at first, it was difficult to explain to them like hey this is something I want to pursue because obviously, money is always something that they’re concerned about, especially as immigrants, because they immigrated to have financial stability and then you’re just here like I want to paint.”
Valenzuela, whose work centers on women, also talked about being featured in a special edition of Lowrider magazine that’s meant to champion the women of lowriding. “I never thought an opportunity like this would come,” she told us, sharing that the magazine and the space have been mostly male-dominated for so long. “It’s only going to create more positive outcomes for women in the community in the future, so I’m super excited for it to be just the beginning.”
As for whether everyone has a place in the community, Jacqueline Valenzuela says yes. “You don’t even necessarily have to own a car; you can come just to meet other women. And my favorite thing is driving my car and seeing other people cruising, and then I turn to the side, and it’s a girl driving her car, too. I always love that.”
