Dalila Paola Mendez
Corazón del agua,  2018
serigraph, Ed. 51
17-3/4 x 26" - image size
22 x 30" - paper size

Before the lotus flower takes its true form, it hides in the mud, waiting to bloom, a parallel to her queer identity; living in silence and fear for part of her life and then realizing the importance of queer visibility in art and media: “For me it’s like [on being queer] the beautiful flower, once we can share and be our queer selves we can share our true authentic self with the world and ourselves.”  The lotus flower sits in front of the torso of a female figure, paying homage to her reverence to the women in her life that have made her who she is today. The female torso sits in the water; something needed to sustain life, just like all the parts of Mendez’ identity needed to keep living her truth.

BIO: 

Dalila Paola Mendez is a first-generation Guatemalan/Salvadoran queer artist born and raised in Los Angeles. She was raised in an Armenian/Arab/Guatemalan/ Salvadoran household.  She creates vibrant works that combine contemporary images with sacred references to indigenous iconography, knowledge, and folklore. Combining the new with the ancient, she explores ancestry as a way to reinterpret and navigate issues confronting our modern world. Through painting, printmaking, photography, and film her art visually narrates stories of resilience of cultures, elders, lgbtq, women and the environment.

She received her Bachelors of Arts in International Relations from the University of Southern California.
 

In 2018 she was awarded an Artist in Residence Grant through the City of LA, Dept. of Cultural Affairs.  In 2015, she was 1 of 5 artists selected to create a print in Havana, Cuba as part of the US/Cuba Printmakers Exchange.