Artist Statment

In my work, I deconstruct my personal histories in order to explore identity, dislocation, trauma, and recovery. I draw on my memories of my family’s displacement from Nicaragua due to a communist Sandinista revolution and the ensuing feelings of exclusion upon arrival as immigrants in the United States. I explore selfhood and the collective identity of my family wrought by Nicaraguan politics, American imperialist interventions, and the process of naturalization to become an American citizen. I consider the effects of trauma on my body and psyche and my journey of amelioration and assimilation facilitated through meditation and an immersion in the natural California landscape.