Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home

Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home is a stunning exhibition of photographs by award-winning photographer Constance Jaeggi featuring escaramuza riders in several communities around the United States. Included with the photographs are poems based on Jaeggi's interviews with riders written by Mexican American poets Angelina Sáenz and ire'ne lara silva. The opening of the exhibition at Chicago's Poetry Foundation began with an artist's talk featuring Jaeggi's discussion of the project, poetry readings by Sáenza and lara silva, and brief introductions to several local riders who were wearing their escaramuza dresses. One rider from Indiana told us that escaramuza has been a long tradition in her family; she started at age 3 and is 43 now.“Escaramuza,” Spanish for “skirmish,” which began in the United States in the 1950s, is attached both symbolically and literally to Revolutionary Mexico through historical images of women who fought for the new country. There are strict dress rules for the female riders, who ride sidesaddle, governed by an association that includes members around the United States. Local parades, including in Indiana where I live, sometimes include riders wearing their escaramuza dresses. Escaramuza is a form of precision horse riding set to music within the charrería tradition—“the Mexican national sport of roping, equestrian activities and working with cattle” (Jaeggi et al. 2025)—which has been established in places where Mexican Americans have settled in the United States.At the opening, Jaeggi described how some women struggled to afford this hobby while being full-time students working and/or raising kids, and some didn't feel Mexican or “American” enough as they participated in this multicultural tradition. Both poets and Jaeggi noted that the sport symbolizes resistance to gendered expectations for women in both US and Mexican American society, as well as celebration and creativity.One of Angelina Sáenz's poems in the exhibit, titled “Look at Our Boots and Spurs!,” underscores this resistance: NoI don't dance horsesI am not a baile folklorico dancerI am not the half-time showor the intermissionI am not just a pretty womansitting on a horsethat is standing stillI am a charrawith extraordinary riding skillsI am sitting sidesaddledrenched in my own sweatburied in a heavy, layered dresswhile I control1,000 pounds of muscle beneath meI am enacting a dangerousmathematically precise routineat full velocityI have fallen off my horsesuffered concussionsbroken bones, been draggedand trampled onSo, the next time you see a womandressed like melook for the boots and spursand then you will knowwho I am(Sáenz 2025)Poems like this, which directly address issues of gender and identity, combine with the photographs to create a powerful exhibition that adds to the audience's understanding of contemporary Mexican American culture, especially for those who may have only experienced stereotypes.The dresses are based on the adelita style of ruffled dresses inspired by the adelitas—women soldiers—who fought in the Mexican Revolution. Riders also wear sombreros decorated with floral shapes. While the women and girls in the photographs are posed, they are often focused on each other, their horses, or on riding. The Poetry Foundation exhibit also includes display cases of spurs, medals, and religious and good luck objects made of yarn, silver, beads, and safety pins, several of which reference the Virgin of Guadalupe. Many seem to reflect gendered expectations, as pink, red, and purple are the main colors used. A beautifully decorated saddle and sombrero are also on display as are four escaramuza dresses. These objects make clear the important role of material culture in the tradition; however (as is often the case in exhibits of traditional clothing/costumes), there is no information on who made the dresses and other objects. This is a missed opportunity to fully describe not only the public aspects of the tradition but how it fits into the larger community and indeed the “home” that supports it.For folklorists and ethnographers, this combination of photography, material objects, and poetry is an interesting and unique way to experience oral history and documentation. While we might miss the voices of the women themselves, they are represented artistically and culturally both visually and in the poems. Over the years, folk culture has been both celebrated and dismissed as not “high” art; in this exhibit, it is showcased through life-sized photographs and deeply thoughtful poetry. The poets clearly took to heart and were inspired by the interviews. Many poems include what seem to be direct quotes from the riders and evoke deeply personal emotions.When I visited the Navy Pier satellite exhibition a month later, few people even glanced at the exhibition. Displayed in a long, lower-level corridor between the restaurants, stores, hotel, bars, and pop-up shops of the Pier, the photographs and poetry seemed to be lost to the public. Public programming such as the Poetry Foundation opening might help bring more focus to the exhibit, which is also competing with the additional offerings of Navy Pier.The photographs on display in both exhibits are striking and varied, including action shots of the women riding and helping each other, and both girls and women posing together. It should be noted that the Navy Pier display (by Nick Adam and Span) is at eye level, which makes it easier to concentrate on the portraits and read the poems and the wall text. Adam notes that the poems at Navy Pier are at “heart height” (2025). At the Poetry Foundation, the photographs are displayed above eye level with the poems at eye level, making it a different experience, more visionary and less of an opportunity to really examine the women's and girls’ expressions.Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home would be an ideal exhibit to travel to local public libraries, especially in areas where Mexican Americans are concentrated, such as Pilsen and Little Village in Chicago and in the suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn as well. While we applaud exhibits of traditional artists such as Penobscot basket maker Jeremy Frey's recent show at the Art Institute of Chicago (Frey 2025) along with the Poetry Foundation's and Navy Pier's embrace of traditional practices, we should also be working to make sure these celebrations of folk culture are highlighted in their home communities. Exhibitions like this one, which both thoughtfully document cultural traditions and complicate expectations of gender, identity, and even family, are incredibly important in our current cultural and political climate. I am excited to see that, after Chicago, the exhibition will travel to the El Paso Museum of History in Texas.