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| Rooted In Protection, Mix media,2024 |
My name is Samantha. I'm a junior majoring in fine art painting/drawing. I am an artist who enjoys working with different mediums but primarily focuses on drawing and painting. My work is deeply personal, as I strive to explore and express my identity as a Puerto Rican woman. Through my art, I navigate themes of self-discovery, culture, and personal experiences, integrating elements that reflect who I am and where I come from. As I continue developing my practice, I aim to create pieces that tell my story and resonate with others who share similar experiences.
I am influenced by Frida Kahlo, Ana Mendieta, and Kiquita Díaz. Latin women artists who explore identity, culture, and personal narratives. Kahlo’s introspective self-portraits inspire my use of symbolism and vulnerability, while Mendieta’s connection to the female body and nature deepens my exploration of heritage and belonging. Díaz’s photography creatively explores Puerto Rican culture and the crises affecting the island.
Beyond personal identity, I am passionate about representing women in art, and cultural preservation. My work honors my heritage while reflecting on the nuances of being a Puerto Rican woman. Through my art, I aim to spark conversation, foster connection, and empower others to embrace their identities.
Quotes from Susan Sontag
“In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe. They are a grammar and, even more importantly, an ethics of seeing.”
This statement I thought was intriguing as I never thought of photographs in that way. I agree that photographs have been transformative in how we perceive our world. Photographs do open up viewers' outlooks even unconsciously, but when looking at photographs they are just still images that we can look at to examine and observe. We might not have noticed or deemed things to be worthy of our attention without it.
“To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge -- and, therefore, like power. A now notorious first fall into alienation, habituating people to abstract the world into printed words, is supposed to have engendered that surplus of Faustian energy and psychic damage needed to build modern, inorganic societies.”
This passage at first I found to be confusing, however after breaking it down it is an interesting perspective on photography. When taking photographs we own this still image giving a sense of control over what is photographed and the perspective we created. It becomes our possession. “ A now notorious first fall into alienation, habituating people to abstract the world into printed words…” I thought it was interesting and true that now through this technology there is a disconnect from having these direct experiences, and instead having them through media like books, articles, and photographs. However, though photographs might take people away from these direct experiences they are still important that they can be accessible to everyone.
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| Stroll, Charcoal, 2024 |
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| Blooming in Boríken, Oil, 2024 |
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| S4m, Print, 2024 |
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| Nostalgia, Mix Media, 2024 |
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