Artist Statement

My artwork focuses on how I interact with the world as a first-generation Mexican American. Through observation, I explore ordinary scenes and items from my childhood to create paintings, illustrations, and sculptures. My family is from Sinaloa and Jalisco, I spent many summers in their towns learning about life in Mexico, and returned to my “ordinary life” for the rest of the year. Art allows me to explore how I grew up and how I see the world now. My work melds typical “American” and “Mexican” imagery to try to explain my experiences.

I primarily work with oil paint, graphite, and ceramics to achieve this. However, I use digital tools as part of my initial sketching and planning process. I try to find scenes from old photographs of my summers in Mexico that bring me a sense of belonging. We don’t always get to see how everyone lives, but by selecting the images I do, I want to share the love I recieved to others in hopes of building connections and conversations with others. My goal is to capture the feeling of the photograph as a painting or drawing. My sculpture work focuses more on recreating images I saw at festivals, churches, and cultural parties in smaller ceramic forms. I rely on research and memory to recreate or reinvision masks, decorations, or food. Often, my sculptures come from exploring play through creation.

I grew up during a time when assimilating to American culture was highly encouraged, even if it meant giving up my heritage. As I see a return to the idea of the “right kind of immigrant” mindset in this country, I feel a need to explore and produce work that questions that line of thinking. My work explores the tension I experience between American individualism and traditional Mexican community values. My process highly focuses on my feelings of belonging, acceptance, and joy. My hope in my work is to start a conversation with the viewer and build a sense of understanding.