Jayelle Lopez: deep dive: the angel of nothing that saved my dormant heart
Artist(s):
Title:
- deep dive: the angel of nothing that saved my dormant heart
Exhibition:
Category:
Artist Statement:
The body of work that I have created in the past year reflects my internal confrontations. Growing up in a conservative Latin environment, there were many adjustments I had to make to meet the expectations of my own culture. As I grew up and came into my own identity, I asked questions that most Mexican families do not take lightly. LGBTQ culture and mental health are two things that seem to create friction in a Latin household. The work I created this year directly links to these questions, as I had to experience my identity and mental struggles in silence for most of my life. These experiences created very deep wounds to which I only applied temporary sutures. Questioning authority is also a taboo for many Latin cultures, but that is exactly what I did. I began to create my own rules that my family slowly began to follow. Now, as an adult, after years of catering to traditions with which I did not agree, I began to create the art displayed as a method of healing. This body of work explores the complexities of internal issues of healing. The themes explored all come from this vulnerability and how I have embraced said vulnerabilities. As I come into my own and open my heart to the possibilities of love. Now, in the middle of my transition, I chose to externalize these experiences. The E-Zine on the site is a chronicle of these experiences in written form. In the form of love letters and mixtapes to the individuals who have given me the opportunities of the heart necessary to take these steps toward loving myself. Inspired by the visual pieces I created in conjunction with the writing as well as the teen rom-coms of the ’90s. This body of work fleshes me out in ways simple words cannot express.
Other Information:
Identity, Latina, LGBTQ, and Poetry
