Asked Questions/ Told Comments
My work is not only a process of discovery for the viewers, but it is a voyage for me. Here I have collected a series of comments and questions that I felt were worth sharing and my responses.
General Questions
Q: Where do you get these ideas?
A: They just come to me. They find me. I read an obscene amount and that sometimes is the fuel for what I want to talk about and how I talk about it. The ideas don’t always come the same way though. With las muertas the series initially started with Julia de Burgos. I have had that picture of Julia in my head for about 20 years. It came to me as I was sitting in the back of my grandfathers car while we were doing our Sunday visit to our family in Ponce, Puerto Rico which is about a 2 hour drive from my old town of Dorado, Puerto Rico. There was a radio program that was reading Julia’s poem Rio Grande de Loiza that Sunday morning. As I heard the poem, I closed my eyes as I could smell the greenness of the island streaming in through the rolled down window and that is how I saw her.
Q: How long did it take you to do this current offering of work?
A: It took a little less than a year.
Q: Is your work for sale?
A: Indeed it is. I need more money to make more art!! Contact me for prices.
Specific Questions about the series
las muertas series
Q: Suicide!? Why is your theme so dark? Are you depressed?
A: No, I am not depressed. I do not think what I am trying to discuss with this body of work is morbid. I think on the surface it may seem that way, that is the hook. I think that the greater question is why did these brilliant women die? The simple minds will say that they are paying for the poor choices and mistakes that they made. If that were the case then I would say that humanity would have ceased to exist long ago.
Comments on las muertas
C: It is an interesting dynamic that in your photographs the writers all look so beautiful and young and yet they all want to die. It seems wrought with tension.
C: In the Alfonsina group, the Pre Pensamentos, it looks like a certain type of madness has set in.
las malas series
Q: More death!?
A: Basically yes, but again the real theme is the things that we do to survive and the things that mothers do because of their love.
Las Maria’s
Q: Are they supposed to be the Virgin Mary?
A: No. They represent themselves. What I am attempting is to show is a certain level of divinity that they share with their namesake The Virgin Mary.
Q: Why are they all Latina women?
A: I find it interesting that I kept getting this question from the same types of people. Currently this exploration is an ethnic journey. I am trying to have a certain dialog with Latinos on religion and who we are. Adding other ethnicities dilutes that conversation.
Space Invaders Series
Q: How do you feel like you have a right to talk about gentrification?
A: Everyone has a right to talk about gentrification. But as a person of color, I tend to feel exceptionally entitled when my people (the black and brown) can’t afford to live in their neighborhood. I find it curious that some would feel angry that I am taking the conversation to task. I am sorry that you don’t think I have a right to talk about it, but that won’t stop me and maybe you should channel that anger into asking your civic leaders to stop selling out our neighborhood.
Q: Are you white?
A: No. I am not Anglo-American. I am Puerto Rican-American. Puerto Ricans are a mix of Black, Spaniard and Taino Indian. To you I may look white, but I promise you that you would be hard pressed to find someone more Puerto Rican than I.
Q: Will you keep on doing the Space Invader series (also known as the gentrification series)? Aren’t you afraid of being arrested?
A: Of course I will continue. As far as being afraid, for sure I am scared. But anything worth doing usually comes with a certain amount of risk. |