En La Frente
2024
Acrylic, Glitter, Pipe Cleaners, Rhinestones, Puffy Paint, and Buttons on Canvas
36″x48″

This piece took about two years to complete. I had it on standby while I continued my teaching job, but after @alondramg_art told me she was helping with a show at the St. Paul Mexican Consulate @cluesofficial , I decided to finish this piece. This wasn’t originally inspired by the Two Fridas painting, but a student gave me a critique about how much it reminded them of it, so I continued that route. My granny used to obsess over her drives license photos and spent hours curling her hair before her appointments at the DMV. When she passed, she left me a silver dollar, a plastic rosary, a pair of jade earrings that I swear were gauged, and a cutout from her Texas driver’s license.

My relationship with my mexican culture after her passing has been a desperate attempt at holding on to what I can. Trying to find the milanesa recipe she used to make for us and wearing her 1980s (or 90s?) pastel sweater that’s covered in pilled fabric. Leading hispanic heritage club for my students and buying packs on packs of lotería sets for parties I never got to host.

En La Frente draws from the saying “Tienes el nopal en la frente,” and how my relationship with Mexican culture has become extremely strained since moving to MN and my granny’s passing. My connection to my culture is now reliant on google searches and pop culture references. I feel the genuineness deplete a little bit everyday. I rely on stereotypes to feel that connection still. On Friday I renewed my state ID, and last summer I got my passport so I could visit Monterrey for the first time in 14 years. My mom and my partner said I looked like my granny in my passport photo. I was mean mugging by accident, eyebrows arched with a halter top and a straight face. What an honor to be compared to her.