Personal Architecture
November 2023 - Digital Exhibition with UTA Artist Space Atlanta
Artist Statement
Depicting numinous scenes of everyday life, my work is an archive of remembered locations. I recall and record segments of the home, vehicle, and surrounding areas, drawing reference from my present-day environment, dreams, and memories of my childhood home. I construct these scenes using collage and water-based media, working from both memory and observation. In recalling these scenes I find the spaces that shelter us are embedded with our personal stories. Moments are encapsulated into the thresholds of the home, and our environments become a reflection of our individual cosmologies. The home and its structures act as a continuation of the self and the vessel that holds my memories. My interior and exterior surroundings signify my internal and external experiences. The windows, design structures, and patterns make up my personal architecture.
Depicting numinous scenes of everyday life, my work is an archive of remembered locations. I recall and record segments of the home, vehicle, and surrounding areas, drawing reference from my present-day environment, dreams, and memories of my childhood home. I construct these scenes using collage and water-based media, working from both memory and observation. In recalling these scenes I find the spaces that shelter us are embedded with our personal stories. Moments are encapsulated into the thresholds of the home, and our environments become a reflection of our individual cosmologies. The home and its structures act as a continuation of the self and the vessel that holds my memories. My interior and exterior surroundings signify my internal and external experiences. The windows, design structures, and patterns make up my personal architecture.
"Green House" collage on panel, 18 x 24 in, 2023
|
"Inner State", collage on panel, 11 x 14 in, 2023
|
"Tunnel Vision", Collage on panel, 9 x 12 in, 2023
|
"pools" collage on paper, 11 x 8 in, 2023
|
Red Eared Slider
August 2025 - The Goat Farm Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
Artist Statement
Eyes look through the blinds towards the neighborhood, as the heat from outside seeps into the interior. I recall this as I reflect on the home I grew up in. Memories are captured in the windows, objects, and arrangements of a room or exterior space. They’re evoked by small details—the furniture, the weather outside, how the light moves through and around the house, or the shapes the blinds make as you part them to peek out. In reflecting on moments of solitude, seemingly small scenes become significant.
Red-Eared Sliders, turtles native to the New Orleans and Mississippi regions, are an invasive species that migrate from their points of origin. They prefer environments with hot air, slow-moving freshwater, and places to bask. I grew up with these turtles roaming parks and neighborhoods, and I kept them as pets. They serve as a reminder of my childhood, my family’s migration around the South, and the memories I have of home.
Utilizing collage and water-based media, my work becomes an archive of remembered spaces—drawn from observation, memory, and dreams. Scenes are shaped by personal narrative and regional atmosphere. The space of the house, the car, and the land are not separate, but settings of intimate recollection and experience. Red-Eared Sliders have become my living emblem of memory, place, and climate.
Eyes look through the blinds towards the neighborhood, as the heat from outside seeps into the interior. I recall this as I reflect on the home I grew up in. Memories are captured in the windows, objects, and arrangements of a room or exterior space. They’re evoked by small details—the furniture, the weather outside, how the light moves through and around the house, or the shapes the blinds make as you part them to peek out. In reflecting on moments of solitude, seemingly small scenes become significant.
Red-Eared Sliders, turtles native to the New Orleans and Mississippi regions, are an invasive species that migrate from their points of origin. They prefer environments with hot air, slow-moving freshwater, and places to bask. I grew up with these turtles roaming parks and neighborhoods, and I kept them as pets. They serve as a reminder of my childhood, my family’s migration around the South, and the memories I have of home.
Utilizing collage and water-based media, my work becomes an archive of remembered spaces—drawn from observation, memory, and dreams. Scenes are shaped by personal narrative and regional atmosphere. The space of the house, the car, and the land are not separate, but settings of intimate recollection and experience. Red-Eared Sliders have become my living emblem of memory, place, and climate.
"Inferno", collage on panel, 11 x 14 in, 2025
|
"Algae Eater, collage and glitter on panel, 11 x 14 in, 2025
|
Echolocation : Industrialized Persona
May 13 - June 4, 2023 - at The Front Gallery, New Orleans, La
Exhibition Statement Excerpt
Curated by Yashira Davalos and John Alleyne
"The development of physical and social spaces (or lack there of) give objective resonance to identity and persona based of the relationship between occupancy and landscape. This exhibition explores the way black people and people of color take up space generationally, as natives and foreigners. . . We must narrate our own vanity because they leave a lot of stuff out when they tell it. When you see us, we are the embodiment of location." - Yashira Davalos
Curated by Yashira Davalos and John Alleyne
"The development of physical and social spaces (or lack there of) give objective resonance to identity and persona based of the relationship between occupancy and landscape. This exhibition explores the way black people and people of color take up space generationally, as natives and foreigners. . . We must narrate our own vanity because they leave a lot of stuff out when they tell it. When you see us, we are the embodiment of location." - Yashira Davalos
