Curatorial Rationale

An undeniable and self-evident motif within my collection of works is the exploration of

my identity. Delving into the construction of identity my work focuses on using my own
Mexican culture and family history to establish a sense of who I am at the moment of the work’s
fabrication. Using portraiture as the main component of my exploration I experimented with
several different traditional mediums such as clay in order to place myself in new experiences
which I hoped would reveal not only the limitations of my abilities but also perseverance and
ambition.
Growing up in a Mexican Catholic household certainly shaped the way in which I viewed
virtue and character. The rigorous roles for what a woman can and cannot do in both of the
societal circles greatly fed my disdain for authority and institutions. As a child, this resentment
was enough to fuel the central aspects of what and who I classified myself as; as a growing
woman, I find myself re-examining the complex relationship I have with both these institutions.
In an effort to examine how for better or worse religion and history play a role in my being, I
have begun to consider and study how other artists have appropriated aspects of a culture or
tradition which estranges them. Most notably my work is influenced by the portraits of
Caravaggio and Kehinde Wiley. For me, Caravaggio’s dark baroque scenes encaptured the
intensity of the history and traditions I was brought up with. In contrast, to this Kehinde Wiley’s
work allowed me to explore the ways in which that narrative did not encompass me nor intend to
but how I could create my own narrative and insert myself. The theme of borrowing from old
and transforming it into new, can be seen in works such as Enlightenment and La Llorona. In my
traditional oil painting, ​Enlightenment​ I borrow multiple aspects such as aesthetics and medium
from the Catholic iconography I grew up praising, to illustrate my newfound sense of virtue and
purpose. When compared to my other works such as ​La Cadena, Enlightenment a​ lso​ ​showcases
the progress that I have made in utilizing symbolism and associating various art periods and their
perspective techniques to most evidently portray a corresponding reaction from the viewer. In
Enlightenment​ I employed the extreme contrast of the Baroque periods famous chiaroscuro to
evoke a darker more serious reaction from the viewer suggesting a serious inspection and
critique of self.Conversely, despite having a similar composition in ​La Cadena​ it evokes more
positive reactions due to the surplus of color which in turn suggests to the viewer that in this
work identity is not a burden but a celebration. In my sculpture, ​La Llorona​ I focused on
appropriating cultural anecdotes such as Caravaggio to both figuratively and literally in a new
intense manner depict the turmoil within the journey to self-discovery.
Originally, I was very distraught and intimidated at the prospect of configuring my works
in the right order for the same reason I was distraught during the creation of a great deal of them.
I wanted from the start to depict a journey of realization, acceptance, self-discovery but overall
success. Despite this, I found that when arranging my works along with their creation this
journey was not so easy to undergo or arrange. There were times within the creation of a work
where I felt I had not progressed in my desire to define myself but rather gave in to the
animosity. For this reason, I felt a better reflection of my journey to discovering my identity
would be to display the work to demonstrate that constant tension and turmoil within. The
outcome of this is not necessarily a palatable account of self-discovery rather an honest account
of the work and reflection I have undergone to create myself at this particular moment.