Artist Name: Raquel Rojas

Title: Escondidos

Description: Silkscreen Print, 13″ x 19″
I researched the Monarchs and their voyage. I realized that my parents took the same voyage as the Monarchs, which started in Michoacán. They were strong enough to travel the 2,000 miles to the United States without losing hope. We often forget how beautiful our heritage is. This is the basis of my painting series is to illustrate the histories of my parents, grandparents, and many others. My series contains various forms of symbolism for example; I use the Dahlia the national flower of Mexico to represent the sky and the burning sun. The Rose, the nation flower of the United States, represents the land, which my parents and many other migrants look for. The monarch is represented with skeletal bones. I do this in order to present the life and the death of many different migrants as well as monarchs. I gave my father, my mother, and many other migrants a voice of beauty and respect; a voice that they did not have before. The voyage that they all managed to make was that of strength and perseverance, not of shame.

Artist Bio: My name is Raquel Rojas and I come from Terra Bella, CA in the heart of the central valley. As a Chicana, as an educated woman, and as an artist, it is my responsibility to create work that speaks to the immigrant, the worker, the mother, the father or anyone else that feels that they have been forgotten. I use various symbols from my heritage, culture, and my traditions along with stories from the past. The colors in my art represent our beauty as humanity; something that cannot be replicated or designated- unique. I depict the concept of death and life in many of my works. I believe that within every struggle there is a life within the death. There is something beautiful within the unattractive. I bring out whatever hope there is within any suppression. My art is an illustration of the past perseverance, present struggle, and future hope. My hope and that someday I create a body of work that is important to my community, inspiring for our children and a piece of history that will never be forgotten.

Website: rockyrojas.wordpress.com

Categories: Posters