Thesis Exhibition: April 1 – April 4, 2015

Opening Reception: April 3, 6 – 8:30 PM
Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 11 AM – 6 PM

Latas de Atun
slip cast porcelain, 10”x8”x9”, 2015
 

Untitled
porcelain, 5.25”x4”x.25”, 2015

As an American by birth and a Venezuelan by blood I have always felt trapped in-between cultural customs and traditions. My experience living in both countries has given me a different perspective of the world. I was brought up in the capital of Venezuela a culturally rich but conflicting country.

Having lived in the United Stated for a little over fourteen years has shaped or perhaps distorted the memories of my youth living in Venezuela. Being neither here nor there has concerned me for a very long time.

The longer I spend in the US, the more I fear of losing part of my identity, the part that keeps me connected to my Latin-American roots, family and native Spanish language. 

My studio practice investigates identity, acculturation, craft, and ritual at the same time addressing my own biography in relationship to my Venezuela upbringing and permanent relocation to the US.

Through my own experiences and the lives and occurrences of others, I am interested in creating a new language that is playfully situated between worlds. I create ordinary, absurd and oddly familiar objects that explore the juxtaposition of permanent and durable ceramics with ephemeral fiber materials, food wrappings, paper and cardboard. I seek to engage the viewer in a conversation concerning displacement, difference, longing and ritual.

By facilitating the dialogue between the observer and the object, I hope to continue to raise awareness of the socio-cultural and socio-political inequalities surrounding my heritage, and the heritage of all American immigrants. Contemporary art has the ability to induce change in the world by creating awareness of social injustice and encourage others to become critical of the social systems they live in.

All images courtesy of the artist.