Celebrating Selena: Fotos y Recuerdos. https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/celebrating-selena-fotos-y-recuerdos/WQJyfKjwK8pFJw. The Selena Museum. https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-selena-museum. Reviewed January 22- 27, 2020.
I learned of Selena Quintanilla when I first watched the 1997 movie,“Selena” starring Jennifer Lopez. Well-received from the media and public, the movie was the eventual starting point for Jennifer Lopez’s career as an actor and music artist. I became a huge fan of Selena and her music, and I was inspired by her journey from humble beginnings to national stardom as a Mexican-American music icon. Sadly, at the age of 23, Selena’s career was cut short when she was shot and killed. The site however, does not include these tragic events but instead keeps a constant theme of family, beauty, love and inspiration. Perhaps the way Selena would’ve wanted it. The Selena Museum continues to celebrate her legacy, which, with the help of Selena’s family, has put together a collection of personal images to share for her loyal and loving fans from across the country.
Celebrating Selena: Fotos y Recuerdos is a collection of archive photos and images from The Selena Museum, highlighting Selena’s career as a musician, entertainer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The site is colorful, organized, and very user friendly. One only has to “click” on the arrow to the right or left to navigate through each image. The site starts with an “Introduction” that displays beautiful self-portrait artwork of Selena with a short description summarizing Selena’s childhood and beginnings as a Tejano music performer with her two older siblings. Also known for her work and creativity in the “fashion world,” the site displays the many outfits that Selena performed in but sometimes designed herself. I was not aware Selena was such a “trendsetter” and an advocate for education, often active in community service during her spare time, until I viewed this site.
The next section of the site shows Selena’s “favorites” such as her 1986 Porsche and Grammy award for Best Mexican/American Album that she won in 1994. Selena was the first female Tejano artist to receive this award and currently remains the youngest ever to win in this category. The last and final section of the site appropriately ends with Selena’s “Legacy.” This centers on the impact Selena made not just with her fans but also within the Hispanic community from around the world. Millions adored Selena, who created an instant connection with her fans, while serving as an inspiration and positive role model. After Selena’s death in 1995, the Quintanilla family still continues to receive thousands of fan mail from people all over the world such as Hungary, El Salvador, Japan, and Cuba. Such letters are shown in the site and ends with more beautiful artwork of Selena that was painted from her fans.
The target audience for this site is likely Selena’s fans, although is easily accessible to new users. While the images are interesting and artwork was pleasant to look at, I found the small descriptions to be equally appealing as they help tell her story as one clicks through each image throughout the site. In addition, the descriptions also provide interesting facts including metadata such as the location, month, date, and year that one may not ordinarily get from other sites.
Overall, the site is easy to use, clean, colorful, and organized. On the last page, the “credits” are shown, where you can conveniently click on The Selena Museum and learn useful information such as hours of operation, and the collection of all the images shown throughout the site.
