Embedded Files
I was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, and many of my earliest memories come from Santiago Laollaga, a small town near the Sierra Madre in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
It was a place surrounded by mountains, rivers, fruit trees, and clear water, and much of what I remember from childhood is connected to being outside and exploring that landscape.
It was a place surrounded by mountains, rivers, fruit trees, and clear water, and much of what I remember from childhood is connected to being outside and exploring that landscape.
Growing up there meant being surrounded by mango, coconut, and avocado trees, rivers with remarkably clear water, and the natural spring at the center of town known as El Ojo de Agua. Mountains framed the landscape, and places like Cerro Negro, El Remolino, Cerro Tablón, and the Río Grande became part of the geography of my childhood, whether I was hiking, swimming, fishing, or simply wandering.
Santiago Laollaga, Oaxaca
JOSEFINA
JOSEFINA
1913-2004
1913-2004
My grandmother Josefina holds a very special place in my life, so much that my daughter carries her name. I spent important years growing up in her home and learned a great deal simply by being around her. She raised eleven children, including my mother, and I remember her warmth, her strength, and especially her love of music and singing.
Ya No Soy Naila
Ya No Soy Naila
One of the songs I remember hearing through my grandmother.”
October 2002. Saying goodby to go to the US.
April 2016. The last vacation to be with my mother.
My childhood felt full of color, sound, and small details that stayed with me. I remember the smell of mangoes and tomatoes during harvest season, climbing the nearby mountains, looking at the stars in complete darkness, hearing dogs and children in the distance at night, and waking to announcements coming through loudspeakers as another day began.
1995
1995
In 1995 I moved to Oaxaca City to study design. It was the beginning of a different part of my life, where art, graphic design, culture, music, food, architecture, and the streets of the city began influencing the way I thought about making things.
OAXACA CITY
OAXACA CITY
Oaxaca became the place where I grew into adulthood and began understanding visual culture in a different way. I remember walking through markets such as 20 de Noviembre, seeing typography, color, food, craft, architecture, and everyday life all mixed together, and realizing that inspiration did not have to come from one particular place or discipline.
Tinoco y Palacios St.
Murguia St.
Around that time I began using the name FRAMEL73 and became interested in the dog as a personal symbol. My mother used to joke that I was a “perro callejero” because I was always out with friends and wandering the streets of Oaxaca, and the idea stayed with me.
In Mexico, “perro” can also describe something with attitude or character, so I began playing with the idea of Diseño Perro and using the dog in drawings and graphics connected to where I came from.
I started drawing dogs and combining them with words I had heard growing up in a region deeply connected to Zapotec culture. Some of those experiments were less about creating a formal identity and more about finding a visual language that felt personal, local, and connected to my own memories.
I have always been fascinated by three-dimensional form. In high school I spent several years studying architectural drawing, and even something as simple as learning how to construct an isometric circle with a compass stayed with me. That interest in form, space, structure, and perspective eventually found its way into much of the work I make today.
As I got older I began traveling more throughout Oaxaca and developed a strong connection to the coast. San Agustinillo, Mazunte, and Puerto Escondido became places I returned to whenever I could, and the ocean, color, landscape, and pace of life there became another part of the visual memory I carry with me.
As I got older I began traveling more throughout Oaxaca and developed a strong connection to the coast. San Agustinillo, Mazunte, and Puerto Escondido became places I returned to whenever I could, and the ocean, color, landscape, and pace of life there became another part of the visual memory I carry with me.
THE COAST
THE COAST
Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. A laid-back, colorful coastal town shaped by the ocean and surf culture.
San Agustinillo, Oax.
Puerto Escondido, Oax.
2 0 0 2
2 0 0 2
At the end of 2002, I moved to the United States and eventually made Cincinnati home. My first experience of a Midwestern winter came through Chicago, and after growing up in southern Mexico, the cold was something I was definitely not prepared for.
CINCINNATI
CINCINNATI
People have asked me many times, “Why Cincinnati?” The simplest answer is love.
People have asked me many times, “Why Cincinnati?” The simplest answer is love.
I met Amy, and what began as two people exploring Oaxaca together eventually changed the direction of my life.
I met Amy, and what began as two people exploring Oaxaca together eventually changed the direction of my life.
Cincinnati became home, and over time I began discovering its neighborhoods, architecture, history, landscape, and people in the same way I had explored the places I grew up around.
I carry a lot of memories with me, and many of the things I make begin somewhere inside them. Places, people, music, nature, movement, color, and small moments continue to find their way into the work, sometimes intentionally and sometimes without me realizing it.
I carry a lot of memories with me, and many of the things I make begin somewhere inside them. Places, people, music, nature, movement, color, and small moments continue to find their way into the work, sometimes intentionally and sometimes without me realizing it.
I don’t think there is much mystery to inspiration; for me it comes from paying attention, remembering, and continuing to make things.
THIS IS WHO I AM AND THIS IS MY STORY
THIS IS WHO I AM AND THIS IS MY STORY
"I'M NOT FROM HERE" was a show I had at the end of 2017. The work that was on display was a series of large, mixed-media paintings and laser cut posters.
Google Sites
Report abuse