Artist Statement
The body of work explores the past and the present while analyzing the roots of displacement within my ancestry. It is a search for faith and certainty through the upbringings in cultures and religions. Coming from a family of Latin immigrants, I am inspired by the rich storytelling, heavy imagery, and manipulation of truth and delusion. Motivated by curiosity, I am pulling apart my ideologies of religion through fantastical narratives and utopias to form my mythology.
As a first-generational artist navigating a new landscape, the work criticizes the journey of childhood displacement between homes, cities, religion, and anxiety pressures in search of peace of mind. Christianity and Catholicism caused shifts within my family's harmony as I began to see the erasure of the culture and traditions I once valued. Now left with cultural bits, half-truths, and memories, I seek to captivate a body of work that links moments of magic and the interest in escaping reality for a pleasurable quest.
The inspiration behind the narrative is derived from 2D animation, and early 2000s video games as they exist as an archive of nostalgic snapshots. I utilize art to capture the aesthetics of objects and moments that recreate intimate memories and whimsical pleasures. I strive to restore legends by illustrating the adversities of my family’s immigration. The body of work is a multiversal experience where stories passed down from family are not always true but from personal experiences. These conversations with my family allow for my creativity to replicate nightmares and fantasies so I can further explore these truths in my body of art.
From family nostalgia and upbringings in religion, I link the experiences between faith, magic, and world-building. These are the ideas that I aim to further in my artwork while allowing intricate emotions and perspectives to resurface for the audience's imagination. Like a cliffhanger, I want my audience to interpret their ending within my mythological world while I am chasing a consistent pursuit of peace from anxiety.