Embedded Files
Curatorial Rationale
Throughout my artwork, I explore the different ways people live their lives daily. I also focus on family and a little bit of culture and traditions throughout. I explore the importance of small moments in life that often seem insignificant, but end up holding value. There have been moments in my life that I have thought were not important enough, and when they were gone, I realized just how much they were. Van Gogh and Vermeer largely inspire my artwork through the way that they would portray daily life and culture in their paintings.
In Night I show a moment in my parent's life that seemed at the time insignificant to me, but to them, it is a time that they take to be together. The use of graphite in this work, and the six other artworks, shows time and the importance of time in daily life. By using the graphite, I took the time to make each drawing and making sure that they were as realistic as I could make them. In both Every Day and Connection, I focus on the passing of knowledge through generations in daily life. Every Day shows the empanadas that my mother learned to make from her mother, and Connection shows the knitting that I learned from my grandmother. Both of these activities take time and are a part of my daily life and tradition which is why they are placed close together so the audience sees that they are both about traditions in daily life.
In Complete, I draw my maternal grandmother with parts of her missing because I wanted to represent how incomplete she feels living in the US when she is not in Mexico. This particular piece is important to the rest of my artworks because she is a pivotal part of my family and is the one that has passed on a lot of traditions. In relation to the rest of the works, this is the only artwork to have color to show just how important she is to my family and me. This artwork, along with Flor, is in the center of all the other artworks. They are placed there as the only two artworks with color because both of my grandmothers are important to me and to my families.
The artworks Washing Stones, River Fruit, and Childhood show parts of the daily life of my paternal family in Mexico. In these two particular photos, I was inspired by Van Gogh to show just how different people's lives are compared to how we think their lives might be. They are placed together, along with Flor, so the audience gets a sense of difference from the other artwork. These artworks are photos because I wanted to show their lives realistically and also use documentary-style photography to capture how differently they live their lives. The placement of the artworks will show the audience how unbalanced my connection to my father’s family is. Since there are fewer artworks on my dad’s side of the family, it gives the audience the feeling that I know/spend more time with my mother’s side of the family.
As viewers see my exhibition, they are to be surrounded by different facets of my family's life and mine. I want the viewer to think about the differences in other's lives and reflect on the significance of moments that may not seem important. Connection and Flor are in the center because I want the viewer to get the sense that the subjects in the artworks are the most important people in my life. On either side of the middle artworks, are the rest of my artworks, showing the viewer the separation between my two families and their daily lives. Complete, the most important or impactful art, is in the middle with everything else branching out from that point. Every Day is closer to the center since my mother is also someone significant to me, and so is tradition. I have the two photographs on the other side of Flor because they show a different part of who I am, but are as important.
Every Day
Every Day
Graphite on paper
22.86x30.48 cm
For this artwork, I wanted to focus on authentic daily life and things that happen in my household often. In the drawing, my mother is making empanadas which she doesn’t make often but she does cook every day. I wanted to have a close-up shot of her hands because they tend to show someone's age and because she uses them a lot to cook and do things around the house. I also didn't want anything else showing as it would take away from what she is doing.
Not Available
Night
Night
Graphite on Paper
15.24x22.86 cm
I wanted to draw a small part of my parent’s life that may not seem important to me but it is something important to them. I wanted to draw my dad’s hand while he cuts the lemongrass that they use. This angle, that is usually seen by him, allows the light above him to cast shadows that are dark and harsh. I decided to leave the light like that because sometimes my parents drink tea to calm them down during something dark and depressing or when they get together with my aunts to talk.
Not Available
Connection
Connection
Graphite on Paper
15.24x22.86 cm
In my artwork, I wanted to show a small part of my life that I share with my grandmother. I drew a scarf that I am knitting for my dad so he can take to work. I learned to knit from my grandmother which makes this an important part of my life. I decided to draw it from this angle because I wanted to get the texture and the light that is reflected on the yarn and because I wanted the viewer to focus on the knitting and nothing else. This is also the reason for having it on a white background.
Not Available
Complete
Complete
Graphite and acrylic paint on paper
21.59x30.48 cm
I wanted to show how we sometimes forget that older people can feel tired of their same daily life. I drew my grandmother with pieces missing because she doesn’t feel like she belongs here and that her home is Mexico. She feels like her life here is missing what she had there. I decided to paint the background with the color that my grandmother painted the inside of her house here because even though I didn't like the color, she says that it reminds her of her home in Mexico.
Not Available
Flor
Flor
Graphite and pen on paper, stock photo, and India ink on paper
28x21.5 cm
The artwork serves to represent how I felt during my visit to her grave and how I knew her my entire life: by only hearing her voice, which is why the flowers cover the majority of her face. By creating a black border, I invoke a sense of isolation and emphasis meant to symbolize the loneliness I felt and how much I felt it when I visited her grave. I used a stock photo of roses to create a balance in the art and to symbolize the name of my grandmother: Flor.
Not Available
Washing Stones
Washing Stones
Digital photography on paper
30.48x45.72 cm
For this photo I wanted to show how my dad’s family in Mexico wash their clothes. In this photo, my mom is washing her clothes from the first time I went to Mexico. For my dad’s family this is how they wash their clothes daily since they don’t have any other way to do it. I used documentary photography in order to document just how different people’s lives are and how sometimes we take things for granted, like a washing machine.
Available, minimum bid $10 Digital download $15
River Fruit
River Fruit
Digital photography on paper
20.32x20.32 cm
In this photo my mom is holding jinicuiles, which are a fruit that grows by the river and is something that my father would eat as a child. I wanted to have an artwork that showed something different to my daily life and would contrast the other artworks. By taking the picture of my mom's hand holding the fruit in a place that my dad grew up in, I connected my paternal and maternal family together. Both of these families are a part of my life and that is something I wanted to show with this photo.
Available, minimum bid $10 Digital download $15
Childhood
Childhood
Digital photography
30.48x45.72 cm
The fruit in this photo is the same fruit that my father would eat a lot growing up. It was a part of his daily life for a long time and I wanted to capture the memories of what he ate daily as a child. It is in black and white to show the time my father has gone without eating something that he used to eat daily. I wanted this artwork to portray a daily life that is different from mine, but still a part of me.
Available, minimum bid $10 Digital download $15
Contact the artist at Iavila4@cps.edu
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