PAINTINGS
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The colonization of Colombia began in 1499, marking the onset of a brutal era in which Spanish conquistadors enslaved countless Indigenous peoples in their relentless pursuit of gold and other precious resources. The Spanish not only stripped the land of its wealth but also severed generations from their ancestral customs, languages, and spiritual identities. Hundreds of years later, young Latinos such as myself are still sifting through the fragments of our history, seeking to reclaim the cultural heritage that was violently stripped away from us.
Gold holds a significance far deeper than its material value. It is not merely a currency but something sacred — a vessel of memory, a symbol of protection, and a conduit for the spiritual energy of our ancestors. It embodies the legacy of those who came before us and guides us through the unknown constant battle of life, and the stillness of death.
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"Woman in Somalia" was inspired by Sade’s song “Pearls,” which references the 1990 Somali famine. The lyrics follow a woman searching for pearls, small grains of rice. She survives unimaginable suffering not only physical, but mental and spiritual. Yet she remains resilient under the scorching sun, yet I paint her in the comfort of my home. I can only feel her pain through a screen, but she lives it, each and every day.
“I have never understood why some people are lucky enough to be born with the chance that I had to have this path in life, and why across the world, there’s a woman just like me—with the same abilities and the same desires—who most likely would make better films and better speeches, only she sits in a refugee camp, and she has no voice—I don’t know why this is my life and that’s hers. I don’t understand that”.-Angelina Jolie
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Turning 18 and accepting that you are no longer a child.