"Storytelling has always been very important to me. During the past year, I have wanted to implement the cathartic feeling of life lessons into more abstract, colorful, visually confounding ways. 

 

I would consider myself a mixed media artist, as I enjoy painting, collage, writing and conceptualize my work through layers, not only visually but figuratively as well. Over the past two years, I became more intentional on honing and practicing skills I had learned and let go of from my time at Fiorello H. LaGuardia H.S. Through this process, I remembered how free I felt using color again, and the importance it had on my identity as a Latinx/e individual. I also let go of the notion that in order to be content with my work, it had to reflect realism and nothing else. After working on a few ideas that mirrored lesson learning through writing and pencil drawings, the concept for a modern take on a triptych came to me. I wanted to convey the lessons learned through balancing an adult ADHD diagnosis, relationships, and my place as a healer in my community through my career as a therapist; all while finding a way that also removed my singular experience from it. With my newest piece, I build on the visual expression of “Focus” and capture the realization that intention itself holds a lot of power, and that by evolving as a person, so can my ability to capture it."