Artist Statement

My awareness of art as a means of communication began while I was growing up in Mexico City. Influenced by the city's rich cultural environment, I began translating everyday events and experiences into my own visual language. Using this language in my prints gives me an opportunity to question and understand, to provoke and explain.

The culture of Mexico affected my outlook of the world and cultivated me as an artist. There is a tendency in Mexican art to portray hardship through beautifully drawn lines and brightly colored shapes. Murals and sculptures of the city's often violent history and mythology are prevalent throughout its institutions and streets. It is a culture that is not afraid to be made uncomfortable in return for the dialogue that its art provides.

My work draws on the language of the art I grew up with to tell a personal history and mythology. The figures in my work are portraits of loss, regret, frustration and conversely of support, trust and discovery. The figures fill the page, contorting themselves to be confined within the borders of the paper. Their exaggerated hands create tension and indicate control or lack thereof. They often hold a talisman to give voice to a particular struggle. For example, a figure might hold a bird to symbolize a difficult choice that has to be made, or hold a dog to symbolize responsibility or protection. At times the figures hold nothing, conveying a sense of longing and loss. They gaze off the page in silent conversation offering themselves as a reflection of the viewer.

Woodcuts are the preferred vehicle for my expression. The hard edges and fluid lines of the cut wood create an environment in which my imagery thrives. The contrast on paper created by the printed block brings out the gestures of the figures and magnifies the tension in my work.