Artist Statement
My practice originates from the struggles of marginalized latinxs, their histories, cultural practices and social positions. Drawing upon the language of painting and fiber craft, I combine collage, textiles, soft sculpture, and my personal archive into expanded paintings that consider the capacity of the present, take both the good and bad, and open themselves up to wonder. Grounded in an awareness of a problematized Latinx identity, I work to build a repository of work that addresses the complexities and fallacies of nationalism by extending empathy for the ways in which all people remember, forget, and are beset by contradiction.
Bio
Lorena Diosdado (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist born in Texas, but raised in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico through her early life. Her practice is informed by her transnational experiences and inspired by the rich ways marginalized Latinxs self-actualize through mythmaking in the face of hegemony. Diosdado earned her B.A. in Art Practice with Honors and a minor in Education from Stanford University and an MFA in Studio Art at the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently based between Texas, California, and Mexico. Diosdado's work has been exhibited at the de Young Museum of Art (San Francisco, CA), the Visual Arts Center in Austin (Austin, TX), Mexic-Arte Museum (Austin, TX), Ox-bow School of Art (Saugatuck, MI), and 6th Street Studios and Art Center (Gilroy, CA). She was awarded the Michael Frary Endowed Scholarship in Painting, the Ruth Ann Marmion Endowed Scholarship for the Visual Arts, the Carolyn Kay Davis Centennial Memorial Award, Dedalus MFA Fellowship nomination at The University of Texas at Austin and the Raina Gese Award in Painting, a Major Grant, and the Anderson Ranch Scholarship, and the Chapell Lougee Fellowship at Stanford University. Diosdado has served as the artist-in-residence at 6th Street Studios and Art Center, Mexic-Arte, and Caldera.