Artist Statement
My paintings are collages of inherited memories, framed like a photograph, by symbols of post-colonial history. I grew up in Güayanilla, Puerto Rico, a land preserved in time. A place where people relive their childhoods, growing amid the colonial labors of sugarcane production. My paintings are imagined memories tied within the space of post-colonization. I return to the same land and trace the mannerisms that stem from that fraught history, capturing colonization’s remnants. A time of mirroring the then and the now through the same land. My paintings combine both personal and collective memories. Due to the constant changes brought on by the earthquakes, my memory of the landscape remains in constant flux. When I return to these spaces, I meet familial figures and those who came before me through someone's description of them. I relive memories of growing up in rural Puerto Rico and seeing the world be described to me through the eyes of my father who was born in 1943.
Growing up, I was taught to appreciate European art. Perhaps I recognized that it too was part of the colonizer’s project, leading me to seek that which felt more familiar. I looked up to artists like Miguel Pou and Rafael Tufiño because they painted what I recognized from my family’s memories. I am drawn to critique colonialism’s unexpected intimacy. As its power controls our language, decor, and houses. In Puerto Rico, a large overly decorated house signifies power and wealth, appearances speak louder than reality.
I make oil and acrylic paintings on canvas and panel. The paintings are punctuated with domestic colonial signifiers: tiles, rococo furnishing, mundillo (bobbin lace), and stained glass: A fragile facade of success. The painted frames reference familial photographic sources. Gold paint is ever-present as a way to reference German porcelain, which has become a decor staple in my family. The vibrant, pastel colors reference local architecture.
I paint in remembrance of my father, grandparents, and uncles whose lives had been forcefully structured by post-coloniality. These paintings are fragmented depictions of stories that should not be forgotten.
Student Space Gallery Exhibition