Rooted in Culture

Journey

I am a Mexican-American artist based in the Phoenix area, and my identity as a printmaker is deeply rooted in my upbringing in a small working-class town outside of Phoenix, Arizona. I was raised by two powerful influences: my mother, a Chicano-rights activist, and my father, an artist who worked as a groundskeeper to support our family. Both of my parents grew up laboring in the agricultural fields of Arizona and New Mexico, picking cotton and produce as part of migrant and working-class life. Their experiences of resilience, struggle, and cultural pride shaped my understanding of identity from an early age and continue to inform how I move through the world.

I studied art at Arizona State University, where I began developing a deeper relationship to visual storytelling and cultural expression. After spending time working outside of the arts, I returned to my creative practice and now work as a practicing artist in the Phoenix area. My perspective as a Mexican-American and Chicana is central to how I understand history, family, and place, and it continues to guide the work I create today. I see my artistic path as an extension of the values I was raised with—perseverance, community, and pride in one’s roots.