GAINING STRENGTH | Eliana Rodriguez

Gaining Strength

Eliana Rodriguez

28 September 2018 - 22 October 2018

OPENING RECEPTION Friday, 28 September 2018, 5 - 8 pm

Bio

Eliana Rodriguez was born in New York in 1996 and grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Rodriguez is a recent graduate from Appalachian State University where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Printmaking and a minor in Dance Studies. In her work she uses Printmaking and Ceramics to discuss social justice topics, self-care and her exploration of her ethnic heritage. Rodriguez has recently been appointed the Student Representative position for the Southern Graphics Council International Printmaking Conference and is currently a summer Resident at Odyssey Clay Works in Asheville, NC. Rodriguez has been awarded with the Honorable Mention award in a 2016 Fine Arts Festival, and has won first place in the Relief category of the 2016 New Impressions Printmaking Competition. Currently She plans to continue her artistic exploration of various Printmaking and Ceramics techniques.

 

Artist Statement

As a Hispanic woman of color, social/political topics and my Dominican and Honduran ethnic background have always played large roles in my artwork both visually and conceptually. When I began reflecting on what it means to be Latina but to come from two different ethnic backgrounds, my work began to reflect more of my personal thoughts and experiences. Upon researching the indigenous cultures of my parent’s home countries, I realized how much of my history had been lost or forgotten. The variety of feelings that I began to encounter as I discovered more about my culture fed into the idea of creating a large body of work. My aspiration for this project was to create a visual representation of my research into the history of my culture, my parent’s lives as immigrants and my connection to all of this. Through this body of work, I have found a deeper connection to my parents, my culture and the places where my family come from. All these discoveries along with my own experiences come together to create my identity as a Dominican-Honduran Hispanic woman of color.


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