Meet the Borderlands Artists
The participating artists were selected based on their unique interpretation of the project’s theme. The artists explore subjects such as identity, politics, heritage and the environment to express their personal connection with the cultures of the United States and Mexico. The artists were invited to work with multiple mediums prior to making their portfolio contribution to encourage experimentation. The artists are working with different mediums to bring their ideas to life including reduction woodcut, etching, aquatint, collagraph, and a digital plotter.
Luis Blackaller
Born 1969, Distrito Federal, México. Resident of Los Angeles, California.
I am an self-made visual artist and filmmaker from Mexico City with an interest in public space, issues of representation and diversity in popular culture, the life-cycles of narrative colonialism, comics, cinema, and the conservation of ephemeral printed media. I work across disciplines to explore the connective tissue between reproduction technologies and the human desire for symbolism and story.
Website: https://cartoondistortion.com
Residency Pieces
The Slumbering Field, 2022
8” x 10”
Reduction Linocut
Home Invasion, 2022
4” x 5”
Etching & Aquatint
Portfolio Contribution
La Especulación Inmobiliaria, 2023
15” x 20”
Etching & Aquatint
David De La Cruz
My art explores the intricate relationships between cities, plants, and the diverse inhabitants that shape them. Through printmaking, I capture the dynamic energy and interplay of animals, plants, and people within urban environments.
Using digital printmaking techniques, I captured the delicate balance between urban landscapes and the resilience of plant life. I invite viewers to contemplate the symbiotic relationships that soften concrete jungles and breathe life into our metropolises.
By celebrating the beauty of nature within cities, I aim to spark conversations and inspire positive action toward a harmonious and sustainable future.
Instagram: sandavdela
Residency Pieces
Tropical Plants, 2022
8” x 10”
Linocut
Flora of L.A., 2022
4” x 5”
Etching & Aquatint
Portfolio Contribution in Progress
Arely Tatiana Hernandez
Arely Hernandez is a multimedia artist born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She works primarily with paint, print, and ceramics. She currently resides in the Bay Area.
Email: artherna@ucsc.edu
Residency Pieces
Demasiada Azúcar, 2022
8” x 10”
Linocut
Sorority Sisters, 2022
4” x 5”
Etching & Aquatint
Portfolio Contribution
4 Tha Kidzzz--para los niños, 2023
14” x 19”
Reduction Woodcut
cindy “cindita” macias
cindita uses assemblage to explore her thoughts and to process difficult, often deeply repressed emotions about the ever-changing world around her. Using found objects, magazine clippings, and textiles, she combines seemingly unrelated pieces to make something strange and new, yet familiar. Her distinctive style emanates her inner struggles with the complexities of the human condition and her expressions are brought to life with contrasting, harmonious colors, bold compositions, and intuitive inclinations.
cindita began expressing herself through art as a means of coping with community violence and childhood sexual abuse to envision new possibilities beyond the violence, trauma, and capitalist consumption. with a deep desire to destigmatize mental health issues, cindita pays homage to her younger self and asks the viewer, to explore, to dream, to be. The collage process is a cultural strategy we depend on to adapt to the inevitable changes of the sociopolitical landscape within and beyond the U.S context.
Instagram: cindy_is_as_cindy_does
Website: https://cindita.com/
Residency Pieces
metamorphosis, 2022
8” x 10”
Linocut
luciferina, 2022
4” x 5”
Etching & Aquatint
Portfolio Contribution
Nuestra Señora de Compton
Our Lady of Compton, 2023
11.5” x 18”
Reduction Woodcut