Release What Doesn’t Serve Me

2019
Collages
Collage with monoprint elements on cotton rag paper
30 x 22.5 inches

This print is one in a series of gender justice collages that depict a wide cross-section of issues that I’m passionate about. In my own activism as a feminist, there are core themes that inspire and drive my creative practice, including: body autonomy, reproductive justice, climate crisis, healing from trauma, self development, indigenous rights, Latinx identity, sexual freedom and realignment with nature.

As a woman of color, these issues have impacted me directly and shaped my lived experience. Not only do I make objects and works about these themes, I also support frontline organizing focused on achieving lasting social change. I am also passionate about ending the gender binary and in having expansive conversations about how we talk about gender. This series of works reflects my broad worldview around gender justice.

This series of feminist word collages is a remix and readaptation of my foundational practice, which is political posters. I began my art career doing political posters, so they are very meaningful to my own artistic growth and have formed the basis of how I communicate. I created posters actively for ten years, and most of that work would happen through digital mediums, since that was the fastest way to create and disseminate my work. Twenty years later, as I have gained expertise in other more analog modalities, I am reinterpreting some of the techniques that I would use in my early poster days. For example, I limit the number of words I'm going to use and I rely on symbols and icons that are easily recognizable by the general public. I also create poster designs that are direct, simple and able to be interpreted in 30 seconds or less.