Trenely "Clover" Garcia, Los Caminos de la Vida, 2018
Trenely "Clover" Garcia, Los Caminos de la Vida, 2018
Trenely "Clover" Garcia
Los Caminos de la Vida, 2018
Serigraph
22”x30”
Los Caminos de La Vida provides a glimpse of South Central’s reality and a community filled with green spaces, the artist’s idealized vision of her neighborhood.
“The biggest problem facing South Central (the artist’s neighborhood) is the crime that comes with placing industrial sites in residential neighborhoods,” states Clover.
Her work highlights Elas Liquor Store, one of many liquor stores in the area, that makes alcohol and drugs easily accessible. In the background, Downtown’s skyscrapers, nightlife, art scene, all presenting gentrification, encroaches upon the South Central and Boyle Heights residents.
However, images of Olmec heads and people evolving from nopales, representing the Mexican community, are depicted at the bottom of the print, symbolizing people's pride and strength despite attempts of displacement.
Queerida
The word Queerida is a playful combination of the word Queer and the beloved song Querida by the late Mexican singer-songwriter, Juan Gabriel, who coincidentally, never openly admitted his homosexuality to the public.
Queerida is a fitting title to this atelier, that brings together five Queer women of color with diverse Latin American backgrounds. Through personal and shared experience, each artist created vibrant and colorful prints representing self and community empowerment, a celebration of women and the female body, and, most importantly, the liberating act of being true to who they are. Many of the works include symbols of their celestial and spiritual connections, rooted in ancestral backgrounds or the land itself. Queerida symbolizes queer love. Both to oneself and for their partner.
The production of Queerida initiated in late 2017, with three works completed in 2018, and two in 2019. The entire suite will be featured for the first time during SHG’s 2020 Annual Print Fair. Artists in the Queerida include Dalila Paola Mendez (curator), Angelica Becerra, Pamela Chavez, Trenely "Clover" Garcia, and Cynthia Velasquez.