Piecing together her roots through everyday materials
This week we welcome Sara Aparicio, a Queens based mixed-media artist. Through painting, drawing, and collage, Aparicio said she explores her Puerto Rican and Colombian identity to highlight both cultures and raise awareness of underrepresented narratives.
In her artist statement, Aparicio describes her art as a response to the lack of Latin American Issues in U.S. news and to the misrepresentation of these communities in the media, as well as a way to explore their histories in depth.
“My work is a platform to create a more accurate picture, putting my spin on popular icons in carnival cultures, landscapes, indigenous deities, and native animals,” Aparicio wrote. Aparicio is pursuing a bachelor of fine arts degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She graduated from the High School of Art and Design with an Advanced Regents Diploma and a Career and Technical Education certification.
Her work has been exhibited in Free Arts NYC group shows at galleries including Amanita, Fleiss-Vallois Gallery and Sotheby’s, as well as A-VENT-SPACE in Brooklyn.
“As an artist, I think it’s important to experiment with each new body of work: collages, drawings, paintings, and occasionally prints. I tend to lean towards collages because the repurposed material is similar to found objects,” she said. “My process involves searching for the right colors and textures in magazines, newspapers, expired CVS receipt coupons, and Home Depot paint chips to focus on color relationships.”
See more on her Instagram.
