Artists Statement
As a multi-disciplinary artist my goal is always to move people. I aim to either change their understanding or verify their ideas. Through sculpture, music, photography, murals and illustration, I’ve created a lexicon of symbolism that fits into each medium. My work is political and at the same time very personal. Growing up in a multi-ethnic/racial family in poverty surrounded by folks economically ostracized, I believe I was gifted with a unique empathy. This empathy allows me to find pressure points in society’s psyche, and then exploit those points to challenge deeply held notions. Within my work I include symbols of my mixed heritage and different influences from pop culture, science fiction, and spirituality. There is a mingling of ideas and subjects that are unexpected in messages of social justice, but make sense in the context I create. In that creation I explore a future and a past rewritten to include people of color as deities and heroes in a very real struggle. Part of that practice is what is called Chicano Futurism, which borrows from ideas of Black/Afro Futurism, in my art it is a personal fusion using elements from my heritage to convey a similar message. I look to expand on my artistic vocabulary and activism in the region and explore the best ways to communicate with people of varying backgrounds by using different mediums.
As a multi-disciplinary artist my goal is always to move people. I aim to either change their understanding or verify their ideas. Through sculpture, music, photography, murals and illustration, I’ve created a lexicon of symbolism that fits into each medium. My work is political and at the same time very personal. Growing up in a multi-ethnic/racial family in poverty surrounded by folks economically ostracized, I believe I was gifted with a unique empathy. This empathy allows me to find pressure points in society’s psyche, and then exploit those points to challenge deeply held notions. Within my work I include symbols of my mixed heritage and different influences from pop culture, science fiction, and spirituality. There is a mingling of ideas and subjects that are unexpected in messages of social justice, but make sense in the context I create. In that creation I explore a future and a past rewritten to include people of color as deities and heroes in a very real struggle. Part of that practice is what is called Chicano Futurism, which borrows from ideas of Black/Afro Futurism, in my art it is a personal fusion using elements from my heritage to convey a similar message. I look to expand on my artistic vocabulary and activism in the region and explore the best ways to communicate with people of varying backgrounds by using different mediums.