Artist statement

I was born in Zapopan, Mexico and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I now live and work in Bournemouth where I am in my final year of completing a BA in Fine Art at Arts University Bournemouth.
 
I am a painter with my mediums including oil paint, and ink. Graphite and digital collage. My recent paintings seek to express what has increasingly become such a worldwide shared experience as defined by Stuart Hall. “Since migration has turned out to be the world-historical event of late modernity. The classic post-modern experience turns out to be the diasporic experience”( Hall, 2007). I use layering in my work as a powerful way to depict the complexities of the modern experience of moving between cultures as materiality is a key part of my work. I’ve found that collage as a starting point for my work is the ideal way to represent the unreliable nature of memories and create the feeling of searching and remembering, the compositions often are attempting to piece together events and locations. I combine new and old photography to create ‘painted spaces’ that exist out of time and reality.
 
As mentioned, materiality is incredibly interesting to me. I am fascinated by documenting the relationship between colour and light through paint. I believe materials are a carrier of information and history and I love when the artist’s touch is visible in the end result, which is why I use visible brushstrokes, painting in a colour-blocking technique using mostly squared brushes with thick paint.
 
The subjects of my work vary from close family and friends. I also will displace the figures out of their original space and place them in an abstracted ‘painted space’. Mirroring the diasporic experience and reimaging the moment in these photographs.
 
Growing up mixed race with family split between Northern Ireland and Mexico allows me to view the world through a diasporic lens. I’ve found that moments that generally were mundane become monumental such as being able to sit opposite my grandmother for coffee. There’s something about temporary reunions when separation is so nearby. It’s a tension that exists, a moment of attention, appreciation and uncertainty which I aim to evoke in my work.