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Document Type
Interview
Publication Date
5-24-2025
Keywords
Santa Clara County, Transgender Artists, Singer, Mexican, Dancer, Cultural Reclamation, Spatial Precarity
Abstract
This interview with Alexia Diaz, a transgender woman of Oaxacan descent, explores the intersection of indigenous heritage, gender, and artistic performance in the South Bay. Diaz uses singing and dancing as a primary vessel for cultural reclamation and personal empowerment. The interview reveals a complex relationship with community support. Diaz notes a significant paradox where she often receives more professional validation from the heteronormative public than from within the internal hierarchies of the LGBTQ+ community. Diaz's narrative underscores the artist’s role as a cultural bearer who navigates spatial precarity through disciplined practice and resistance to accepting structural boundaries. As part of the Mosaic Atlas project, Mosaic Staff and Volunteers, SJSU students, and faculty from the Anthropology and Film, Theater, and Dance Departments interviewed people who support and produce art throughout the Bay Area.
Recommended Citation
Alexia Diaz and Johnny Santaella. "Mosaic Atlas: Interview with Alexia Diaz" Mosaic Atlas Interviews (2025).
Transcript
Network
LGBTQ+ BIPoC Artists
Address
Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County
Neighborhood
Santa Clara County
