The Vejigante series is an evolving research piece that taps into how I access my Latinidad.
Ancestor with Machete, 2019
Pen & Ink, Watercolor, Gouache paper cut-out
12”x9”
My Masks, 2019
Gouache, watercolor, pen & ink, found objects
14” x 21” x 2.5”
2019
Newspaper, brown paper, cardboard, glue paste &
23” x 20” x 14”
Sculpted using traditional methods of the mask making artisans of Ponce, Puerto Rico.
2019
Graphite pencil on cardstock
8.5” x 11”
Excerpt from a zine collaboration for the LatinX group show which offered participating artists the prompt: “What Does LATINX Mean To You?”
“¿Si tu no me pides a mi porqué tienes que pedir a otros?” / "If you wouldn't ask this of me, why would you ask this of others?"
Component painting to Frida At My Table mini zine / #dontgiveapluck Series.
2018
Gouache, Watercolor, Pen & Ink on archival paper
17” x 20”
Hairy Not so Scary is an abbreviated compilation of two-years worth of journaled imagery which helped me to work through fear and negating backtalk as I allowed my body's hair to grow in.
2019
Gouache, Pen & Ink
8” x 10.5”
Zine page Excerpt: Hairy Not so Scary (image #4 out of a series of 13)
2018
Watercolor, Pen & Ink on archival paper
8.5” x 11”
Portrait of Harnam Kaur, body-positive activist. Zine page Excerpt: Hairy Not so Scary (image #7 out of a series of 13)
2018
Gouache, Pen & Ink
10.5” x 16”
Zine page Excerpt: Hairy Not so Scary (image #10 out of a series of 13)
February 2016
Strathmore 500 Series Sketchbook Mixed Media: Gouache, Pen & Ink
February 2016
Strathmore 500 Series Sketchbook Mixed Media: Watercolor, Pen & Ink
March 2016
Strathmore 500 Series Sketchbook Mixed Media: Gouache, Pen & Ink
I challenged myself to go the full month of March without shaving, plucking, threading or waxing in order to see if I could attempt to feel totally comfortable with myself in this very raw state.
After 7 days, I absentmindedly "cheated" by plucking two enemy hairs from my chin. It was my only mishap.
February 2016
Strathmore 500 Series Sketchbook, Mixed Media: Gouache, Marker, Pen & Ink
This image was the first that came to mind when beginning my own internal dialog about how it feels when ingrained European beauty standards impede on my freedom to experience joy in not having to "maintain" body hair as taught or expected.
March 2016
Strathmore 500 Series Sketchbook Mixed Media: Gouache, Watercolor, Pen & Ink
A Gut Flora spin-off series - No Hairy Palms Here - is a developing collection of illustrations addressing shame via religion and myth.
2018
Drawing Inks & Brush Pen on Archival Paper
9” x 12”
2018
Gouache, Pen & Ink on archival paper
9” x 12”
2018
Digital Collage of Watercolor, Pen & Ink on archival paper
12” x 18”
2018
Linoleum Cut Print
7” x 4.5”
This work is the beginning of a small pocket book series for girls, tweens and teens on body-positivity, and how to self care.
This short series of books will focus on the topics of : BODY HAIR, BREASTS & MENSTRUATION- with a spin off on SKIN CARE / ACNE and managing other skin issues while still a young adult.
The information (written and visual) for this series will be based on crowd-sourced information via interviews & survey.
All shared information will be kept anonymous, unless permitted otherwise; then (first) name and age offered only.
38 page, full-color zine.
Artist First Edition/Copy Right 2017, All Rights Reserved
I offered a prompt on social media which asked:
"What if we gave our vaginas a moment to voice how they feel? What would they say?"
Finish the end of this sentence:
"The walls of my vagina feel..... '
With permission, I've used some of the responses given which have fueled these visuals.
One image from the "Walls of My Vagina..." series.
Pen & Ink, Gouache and Watercolor
Excerpt from a mini-zine which begins the conversation on where the shaming of girls & women's bodies began starting with body hair.
These selected images are part of a series of studies investigating the concept of “imbalance”. The characters in these landscapes are part of our gut flora, the complex community of microorganisms that live in our digestive tract. While a mutually symbiotic relationship exists, gut flora can also create a major imbalance in the human body. The characters in this internal battle are unfamiliar to most outsiders. They look as if they’re part of a design and fit right in to the scenario, yet they’re infiltrators. These paintings specifically illustrate a few bacterial scenarios which cause vaginitis, a common infection many women painfully manage.
2018
Gouache, Pen & Ink on archival paper
9” x 12”
GUT FLORA/ Sangre De Su Madre (Blood of her mother): Summer series.
2018
Gouache, Watercolor, Drawing Inks, Pen & Paint Marker
12” x 18”
GUT FLORA/ Sangre De Su Madre (Blood of her mother): Summer series
2018
Gouache, Watercolor, Pen & Ink on archival paper
15” x 25”
Painting GUT FLORA/ Sangre De Su Madre (Blood of her mother): Summer series
2018
Gouache, Watercolor, Pen & Ink on archival paper
12” x 18”
GUT FLORA/ Sangre De Su Madre (Blood of her mother): Summer series
2018
Gouache, Pen & Ink on archival paper
GUT FLORA/ Sangre De Su Madre (Blood of her mother): Summer series
Gouache, pen & ink
6" x 9" on Strathmore Watercolor paper
2017
February 2016, Strathmore 500 series Sketchbook Mixed Media: Gouache, Marker, Pen & Ink
Inspired by a conversation:
I overheard two cis-men talking about how they refer to their girlfriend's period as "shark week". This isn't a new term - just one I hadn't heard before. It was kind of funny and I chuckled to myself. And then...I realized how society has trained me to laugh at moments such as these without question. Moments after, I wanted to salvage that term and make it mine.
Full collection of images within the Zine “Sharkweek” available via my Etsy shop or via direct email: jqrart@gmail.com
This zine was created in the first three weeks of June 2017 from the hours of 10pm-3am
gouache, watercolor, pen and ink
Cravings are a chemically driven event, premenstrual and during menses.
"We've been bleeding each month till we gave birth to you.."
-Kiran Ghandi
