Bad Hombre

Authors

• Sergio Teran

Abstract

In 2017, I created a piece intended to highlight the divisive rhetoric used by the then 45th U.S. President to describe people of color. The piece serves as a warning of the potential consequences of such language.

"Bad Hombre" was inspired by the dialogue and language Donald Trump used when referring to Mexican Americans and immigrants during the early stages of his 2016 presidential campaign. I took some of his actual phrasing and entered it into Google. The resulting imagery became the inspiration for the tone and composition of my piece. Some of the phrases I incorporated include: #BadHombre #ExtremeVetting #DACA #DonaldJTrump #PoliceBrutality #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #MassDeportation. During the making of the painting, new developments would occur, and I sometimes included them into the composition, enlarging it over time.

This process was a way to show the harm that words — especially when spoken by someone holding the highest office in the country — can cause, vilifying the story of immigrants from Latin America, particularly those who make up the largest non-white population in the United States.

I create work that engages with themes of identity and the Mexican American experience. I don’t set out to make political art or label myself as a political artist. Rather, I aim to document our current moment and elevate Latino stories that are human, dignified, and unmistakably American.

Recommended Citation

Teran, Sergio (2025) "Bad Hombre," Loyola Interdisciplinary Journal of Public Interest Law: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 9.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/lijpil/vol3/iss1/9