Ethnic Bodies- Collage series

I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, White. I will have my serpent’s tongue—my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.

— Gloria Anzaldúa

This collage series explores ideas of beauty, colonialism, and sexual identity. Inspired by Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu’s observation that the female body carries the marks and language of culture, I use the female figure as a space where desire, shame, humor, and history collide.

Through grotesque figures, cat ladies, sexual innuendos, playful fetishes, and animal imagery, I explore the conflicting perceptions placed on Latinx women. Humor and absurdity become tools to reveal the scars left by culture, history, and expectation.

The series also focuses on the maquiladora women of Ciudad Juárez, victims of femicides in the early 2000s. By combining pornographic imagery with archaeological references, I reflect on the painful contradiction between their visibility as sexualized bodies and their invisibility as victims.

I create these works by combining magazine imagery, painted surfaces, and found materials. Influences include Wangechi Mutu, the photomontages of Hannah Höch, and the writings of Gloria Anzaldúa.

Through this work, I invite viewers to reconsider ideas of femininity, sexuality, and cultural identity while acknowledging the resilience of women whose voices continue to demand to be heard.