feminism

I use my art practice to express the dualities, issues, questions, feelings and conflicts of a bi-national, bi-culture, and bi-language woman identity - pain, belonging, struggles, cultural loss, self-esteem, acceptance, and inclusion. My practice transports the audience into the experience of being in my world - emotionally and physically - by utilizing Painting, Installation, Sculpture, and Photography. This is portrayed by using elements such as body language, facial expressions, objects, shadows, and nature. My use of iconography is important to represent both the Mexican and American cultures, inspired by the symbolic metaphors of Frida Kahlo. My depiction of dualities is influenced by Cindy Sherman and Ana Mendieta. The colors used in the work reference the national flags, culture and emotions. The materials, such as tissue paper and paper mache, interpret the Mexican handicraft and piñatas, and chicken wire and wire fences relates to the barbed wire and fence of the U.S. and Mexico border. In the U.S., some of these issues are shared between the Chicanx, Latinx, immigrants, women, and minority communities. My work, as well as this paper, decolonizes art and is made to represent the people that resonate with it.

My study of feminism and gender politics has created a need for me to look at, and examine, my personal position in the world. I am driven by how I fit or how bodies like mine fit into our social norms and understandings of what it is to be a woman. My fat body is used to examine spaces where some find discomfort. I am interested in presenting my flesh in an open way, continuing to understand the space I occupy in relation to others. My breasts, stomach, and fat are exposed in each painting. Flesh has turned into material; paint and canvas have become body. Each piece exposes the material of paint, and the sensuality of the medium bleeds into the representation of form and flesh. Canvas hangs on the wall like skin, acting like a body all on its own. In these works, I examine our many facets and use my body to understand the psychological connection between ourselves and our bodies. Multiple figures occupy the picture plane, creating a space for transparency and abstraction. These bodies are depicted in dialogue, and in viewing the paintings one is asked to contemplate the multiplicities that make up each of us.