Our Future, Our Voice, Our Way
Our Future, Our Voice, Our Way is a youth art exhibition curated by the 2020-21 SHG Youth Committee. The exhibition highlights individual youth voices who care strongly about issues in their communities. The pieces in the exhibition touch upon identity, race, culture, and gender, many through the lens of social justice. The SHG Youth Committee believes young people should have more input in the decisions that directly affect them and that their voices should be celebrated and uplifted. We hope through this small exhibit more young artists are inspired to create new work and showcase it to larger audiences, as well as to inspire a new generation of youth to pursue the arts as a form of expression.
The SHG Youth Committee is a paid program for youth living in Los Angeles County ages 15-20 to come together to gain experience in civic engagement and advocacy. Through this youth leadership role, participants receive training to create and lead programming for other youth to increase the awareness in areas of community health, youth incarceration, restorative justice in education, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and more.
Why do I cry?
Watercolor, ink markers, paint markers, glitter pens, colored pencils, and acrylic paint on paper. 11 × 9 in
The piece, "Why Do I Cry?" is based on the concept of machismo and how it influences overbearing behavior patterns.
Jantsiri Herrera (she/her/hers), 20 | @_city.h
My name is Jantsiri but I go by City. I'm from L.A. County and I like to make art with multiple mediums. I make art as a form of self expression and the topics that go along with every piece varies.
Racial Chaos
Acrylic paint and pastel-colored paper. 16 x 9 in
This artwork embodies the racial tension that I and many individuals of color experience daily. It's an abstract representation of the racial injustice in America. The way people treat each other based on the color of their skin.
Rinah Gallo (she/her/hers), 17 | @rinah_may_art
Hi, y'all my name is Rinah and I’m a young African American artist. I'm not only a visual artist but a dancer and fashion designer as well. I love creating in many forms. I find creating to be a great way to tell my story. I was originally born in Uganda, Africa, and have found the beauty of culture to be an inspiration to me.
Everything Changed, Myself Included
Linoleum print on paper. 18" x 24"
“Everything Changed, Myself Included” is a linocut print that addresses the issue of fatphobia within our society. For this print, I wanted to focus on my experience dealing with fatphobia and celebrate how far I’ve come in my healing process. My whole life I’ve been conditioned to view my fat body as undesirable and not worthy of existing in this world. I wanted to dedicate a print to myself and all my fellow fat friends who have worked endlessly to accept their bodies when the world has not. The print consists of a bust of a character with three flowers blooming in different stages in their hair while wearing bold graphic eyeliner and a pair of earrings of a fat person in lingerie. I wanted the flowers to represent the slow and steady growth I’ve done in being confident in myself and all the layers of trauma I’ve had to unpack and continue unpacking to this day to reach that confidence. Additionally, including bold graphic eyeliner was an important factor for me because makeup has been a form of self expression that has helped me confront my fear of calling attention to myself. The big statement earrings being of a fat person in lingerie is meant to remind myself that my body is beautiful regardless of how my weight fluctuates. I dress in clothing I used to believe I was not allowed to wear due to my size and don't allow myself to feel insignificant for the comfort of others.
Las Chicas Peligrosas, (they/them/theirs), 21 | @laschicaspeligrosas
Jackie Hernandez also known as Las Chicas Peligrosas on social media is a 21 year old artist born and raised in Los Angeles, California specifically in Mid-City. They graduated from California State University, Long Beach with their Bachelors in Studio Art Winter 2021. Jackie is a multi-disciplinary artist who works with various mediums of art such as painting, drawing, printmaking, animation, murals and digital illustration.
Matias The Nonbinary
Digital Painting
This illustration was done for a friend of mine who is a trans femme musician in Los Angeles named Mx. Matias. With this piece the intended theme was balance. I wanted to show a balance of cool and warmth, demonic and angelic, male and female. Balances to show the non-binary wonder that is my friend Matias. This image will be formally released along with other content for their upcoming album.
Kimberly Ruiz (she/her/hers), 23| @violentkiwibee
I am a California-based artist/ animator who has various interests. My piece's themes usually range from topics of social justice to memes and playful animations. Sometimes there is a mixture of both with just a little dash of edge I like to put into everything. but one thing that will always be important to me is representing marginalized peoples as we should be.
50 Years Y Que?
Four page article
Interview blog with Jaime Cruz, a chairman of the National Chicano Moratorium committee. We discuss the art created in the early years of The Chicano Movement and connect with the current political climate. This piece of writing includes my personal experience being raised in East Los Angeles, the history of The Chicano Moratorium, and what empowers me to uplift my community.
Samantha Nieves (she/her/hers), 20 | Twitter @Spacedoutartz |
I am an artist born and raised in East Los Angeles. I am a multimedia artist, illustrator, poet, and writer. I address topics that reflect my community, like public art, art history in my community, and my response to my surroundings.
See Me
Drawing, pastel pencils. 16in x 24in
In this piece, I sought to explore a different representation of strength and also challenge expectations of beauty. I illustrated a body seemingly opposite to the feminine ideal, yet a body also outside the masculine ideal. The assortment of markings and shapes on the figure suggest body hair, stretch marks, cellulite, fat, a bald head, and aging. Meanwhile, the figure's contortion and commanding eyes shows the body's power. And although the figure is not gendered, I find solace in this mesmerizing figure that celebrates the very markings and shapes I and others have been shamed for.
Alejandra A Martinez (she/her/hers), 21 | @alejandra90201
My work encompasses the various systems I interact with as a woman from Southeast Los Angeles. I am shaped by the machismo around me, the corruption around me, the betrayal around me; so, ultimately, my work -- be it drawings or photographs -- is guided by a deep desire to imagine existence beyond that reality. In my drawing of figures, I find myself personifying my inner sentiments in human figures that exist outside the suffocating binary. Above all, I seek to represent inner resiliency and strength through bodies that are not beholden to gendered expectations. This is how I challenge the external pressures to align myself with more masculine or more feminine energies in order to prosper as an individual. However, the larger part of my work is centered on my community. Through collage-making and digital photography, I capture what surrounds me in my day to day life -- fleeting moments as Southeast LA confronts gentrification and displacement. My collages have focused on reimagining existing locations in my city as spaces of service to the people rather than to private developers.
La Despedida
Fotograph, 35mm, Pico Rivera, October 2020.
I took this foto of my pops singing with the band at my abuelo’s wake. It’s an image of remembrance for the loved ones so many of us have lost during the pandemic. It feels as though the grief cycles are constant and every culture has its own way of mourning. Singing the saddest rancheras and drinking together are a way Mexicans cope. My papi sings Paloma Negra here. His voice would crack from choking back tears and I think we could all feel that.
Sophia Garcia (they/them/theirs), 23 | @fakefrida
Sophia is a multidisciplinary artist and performer born and raised in Los Angeles, CA.
They have been a SAG-AFTRA member since 2002, and graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in 2015 where they studied Visual Arts and Dance, with a focus in painting and ballet.
In 2018, they received their BA in Arts in Context from Eugene Lang The New School where they were an active student organizer, co-founding the school’s first Latinx student organization, La XENTE.
Sophia has had works featured in group shows around the city, and organized for immigrant rights, prison abolition, and institutional accountability with Sin Fronteras NYC, Art Space Sanctuary and the MoMA Divest coalition. They are currently one of Self Help Graphics and Eastside LEADS first Youth Artivism interns organizing for tenant rights in East LA until Summer 2021.
Welcome Home
Acrylic paint on Textile. 20” x 40”
As a part of a larger series, the work serves as an homage Mexican-American life and the Mexican-American body. Collaging the nuances indicative of that culture such as cartoons and street graffiti. The painting juxtaposes ideas of social-political issues such as immigration and border control with tokens of our adolescence as the Latinx youth of Los Angeles. The imagery of a CareBear illegally crossing the US border is comical and antagonizing.
Priscilla Hernandez (she/her/hers), 22 | @sleepyangelito
My name is Priscilla Hernandez, I am a Mexican-American multi-media artist from Highland Park. My work, from graphic design to large scale paintings, is inspired by the imagery of my youth and heritage. My work serves my city and the people of my culture.
”A Better world is possible...but it’s a long walk to freedom”
Digital Painting. 2021
This piece shows a group of people walking away from the ashes of the old world onto better and brighter things. The group is supposed to be representative and inclusive of the multigenerational and multicultural oppressed people of the world. The road represents the path that we must travel hand in hand in order to create the world we deserve to see, because the only way forward is together. In the words of Malcolm X ““... the Negro Revolution is no revolution because it condemns the system & then asks the system that it has condemned to accept them into their system.
That’s not a revolution—a revolution changes the system, it destroys the system & replaces it with a better one.”
Josiah O’Balles (he/him/his), 19 | @thereisnojojo
I am Josiah O’Balles I’m a AfroChicano, Los Angeleno, and multi disciplinary Artist. I am very passionate about art but not as passionate as I am about people and their right to live with security and dignity. I want my work to articulate the future I want to see, the present I see and the past I have seen and for it to not only display my voice but amplify the voices of those that forces wish to silence. In my free time I love hanging out with my comrades discussing revolutionary ideas, making music, painting and skateboarding.
A Fluid Lucid Dream
Pens and Watercolor Markers. 8” x 4”
As with much of my unfinished work, this one in particular is still not finished, however it is enough. The components of where it becomes fluid is where things get wonky and uncontrolled (not strongly enough though), like most things in a dream would. But after all that weirdness, dreaming can make for self-awareness. All resulting in this piece of A Fluid Lucid Dream.
Sonia Maturano (she/her/hers), 18 | @sgm120
I am Sonia Maturano, I live in South East LA. I started taking my art seriously during these current years, so having to share something with anyone would be a big step. Nonetheless, I have the courage to take a step forward with these wonderful spaces given. Thank you.
¡El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido!
Digital Painting, 2021
In this digital art piece, I wanted to represent every “Latin-American” country in the Americas, including the people who have settled long before the Colonial Era. I understand that there are some countries, especially in the South and the Caribbean, that don't speak just Spanish. I am also fully aware there are existing indigenous groups, their culture and languages continue to be passed on today. I only grew up speaking Spanish in my household, because my native language was lost and it was never taught to me; furthermore, I have been told recently by my family that I have Purepecha roots. I was proud to know this information because this art piece will represent my ancestors and everyone in these continents, including the people who are descended from slavery.
The phrase, “¡El pueblo Unido jamás será vencido!”, rang through my ears when my older brothers and I marched with my parents on May 1st rallies for immigrants rights when I was around six years old. I saw many people walk around me shouting with passion for equality and with pain of injustices. I just hope that one day we can all settle our differences to realize we are a lot more alike and fighting the same battles if we just stand solidarity to march side by side, just like that march I was part of long ago.
This art design was printed on t-shirts and hoodies for a Pop-Up Fundraiser on May 15, 2021 to raise funds for tenants who lost their home and belongings in a massive fire last year during the pandemic.
Vanya Navarrete Robles (she/her), 23 | @florals.ev
I am an undocumented immigrant and an artist who has been raised in the United States for 22 years, the only country I have ever called a home. I grew up in Boyle Heights my entire life as a timid and shy girl, the only and youngest daughter of my family - my parents and 3 older siblings. When I saw my elder brother drawing in front me, sketching his favorite hero character, I became enthralled on how he steadily brought in value - the lights and darks with a No. 2 pencil. I equipped myself with No. 2 pencils as well as with crayons, markers, scissors, glitter, and glue. I would sit on the living room floor to do big abstract imaginations with construction paper, printing paper, and notebooks.
Every artwork that I have done is generally subjective to to my experiences: the cartoon shows, and Japanese anime I watched; the Mexican folklore and music I listened to; the books, manga, and comics I have read; the education I received, and my undocumented journey.
Nopal en la frente aunque no quiera
Watercolor and markers on paper. 8.5 “ x 11”
A painting representing Latinx-Americans who cannot articulate in Spanish, and resort to speaking in English.
“Hay muchas ocasiones cuando tengo miedo que otros Latines piensan que hablo el ingles porque quiero ignorar mi raíces Mexicanas y estoy avergonzada, pero no es aproposito. Soy orgullosa de ser hija de Oaxaqueños.”
Translation “There are many times when I am afraid other Latinx think that I speak english because I want to ignore my Mexican roots and feel embarrassed, but it’s not on purpose. I am proud to be the daughter of Oaxaqueños”
Sabrina Mendoza (she/her), 17 | @spichoarts
My name is Sabrina Mendoza. I was born and raised in Koreatown by two Mexican immigrants and I am currently an 11th grader at RFK UCLA Community School. In the future, I want to use my artistic skills to bring attention to issues that affect my community. As a first step, I joined SHG to learn and gain experience from other artists on how they have used their art styles to bring communities together and how we, the youth, can can incorporate art into current, local issues.
Just add them to the roster
Linoleum print and oil pastel on paper. 7” x 8”
This piece is meant to give light on the system put in place on people from a young age until adulthood. We’re all given a number, we’re all meant to provide some type of puzzle to the piece. But this only categorizes us and makes us feel bound to our category. We’re more than just a puzzle piece.
Jacqueline Aguirre (She/her), 20 | @cokojack
My name is Jackie, I am a member of this year’s SHG youth committee. I love art, every aspect of it. I love to surround myself with other people’s emotions whether it's through music, books, or painting. I love to be able to clearly feel someone else through their work. Most of my work shows human emotion in all its glory. I want to tell people’s stories in any way that I can.