Laguna College of Art + Design

My paintings are about the ways in which communities of color strive to protect and

heal themselves from a matrix of oppression, and how they succeed in ways that foster joy,

new cultural practices, and moments of contented solitude and stillness. I focus on the

evolving Brown identity, drawing inspiration from my own lived experiences and the stories

of those with which I am in community. Scenes depicted in my work include a series of

moments of quiet reflection represented simultaneously in one static image, the process of

recognizing and unlearning anti-Blackness as a form of self-care, and the spaces of intimacy

we create when we allow ourselves to be seen in all of our fullness.

This body of work strives to locate a collective Brown identity that calls in its

problematic origins while also celebrating the resiliency of a present and future colonized

people that have sometimes been severed from their indigenous heritage. In doing so, it

contains visual cues to historical violence, the Chicano movement, and the various liberatory

practices which are used as tools of survival by Latinx peoples of today.

To create these paintings, I combine a spontaneous and instinctive gestural

drawing phase in which I construct scenes and figures from imagination with a methodical

multimedia process that requires many passes over a period of time. Together, this process

results in images that reflect the urgency with which we must address the issues currently

facing marginalized communities. Layers of meaning reward multiple readings of each

painting, much as when we are rewarded by a deeper investigation into our own traumas,

biases, and methods of survival.