Un Día la Vez | Artist Statement

Since 2006, over 10,000 people have fallen victim to the gruesome violence of the drug wars in Mexico. With the horrible job economy and the destruction, the chaos that has resulted from these ongoing power struggles between military and cartels has changed the life style for the citizens of Mexico.  These actions have forced some citizens to work for drug cartels and others to migrate north, facing a life full of limits and fear of deportation.  My current work focuses on the victims of the drug wars in Mexico and the perception Americans associate with Mexicans.  Using traumatic images of people mourning over lost loved ones found on websites such as L.A. Times’ Mexico Under Siege, I translate these powerful images of pain and loss onto paper or canvas with mediums such as oil paint or charcoal. I also incorporate wall compound into paintings to signify a metaphoric wall.  Utilizing the wall compound joint as a medium in painting, I apply it over a fully rendered piece, therefore covering important parts of the composition.   The areas the wall compound covers are then filled with color or with simple illustrations, often stereotypical and cartoony, associated with Latin Americans.  These images are taken from sketches that I have requested from random strangers when asked to draw the first thing that came to mind when thinking of Mexico, thus creating a wall of perceptions.

It is not my desire to offend or to re-illustrate traumatic imagery. The photographs capture this already. My work merely emphasizes the emotional hardships these victims go through due to the gruesome violence of the drug war.  When viewing the work you are forced to compare the violence and destruction to the perceptions of a culture that is not entirely understood by our contemporary American society.  My challenge in creating this body of work is to tear down these social walls preventing American society from relating to a neighboring country.