Statement

For over twenty years, I have developed an interdisciplinary art practice focused on interrogating Otherness, Latinidad, and Blackness through performance, drawing, sculpture, and video. My 17-part video series, Ask Chuleta, humorously critiques the elitism of the art world through a satirical character, while works like the Wepa Woman murals and Las Reinas self-portraits reimagine the marginalized as regal and powerful. Drawing on 18th-century portraiture, I use allegory and symbolism to elevate stories of personal and collective trauma. My large-scale project, Vámonos Pa’l Monte, is a community-engaged procession through Philadelphia, celebrating Puerto Rican identity while subverting colonial narratives. Sculptural works, such as Wig Variants and Tree Sentinels, emerged during the pandemic as powerful stand-ins for the body, exploring Black hair politics, survival, and transformation through hybrid, monumental forms. These pieces reflect the grotesque and majestic conditions under which marginalized people endure and adapt. Similarly, my Sanctuary drawings honor Puerto Rico’s rainforests as sacred spaces of reflection and healing. Whether creating durational performances like Pietà—where I held BIPOC participants in a ritual of mourning—or constructing public monuments, my work is rooted in radical empathy, cultural memory, and the celebration of unseen and undervalued lives.