How does your identity as a disabled, queer, and Puerto Rican artist inform and shape your work?Â
A lot of my work early on was informed by my trying to parse my identity as an adult, especially as I was coming into my queerness. There was a lot of exploration in my work, in and outside of art, that focused on the Puerto Rican diaspora and how we fit into the greater narrative of Puerto Rican history and culture. That exploration led to me thinking about homesickness as it relates to diaspora and what that looks like for me, and some of my early zines deal expressly with that concept. More recently, I've been using zines to educate about my disabilities, but also as a way to express the frustration that arises from being disabled in a world that expressly seeks to exclude us from society. Even if I'm working on something that isn't autobiographical, my perspective from my lived experience is going to inform the ways I choose to abstract and juxtapose text and image or how I develop a character and their own journey to reflect my own.
What are some of your favorite hobbies outside of illustrating, making webcomics, and zine-making?Â
I've always been big into baking and trying to spend time in nature, like finding nice little walks through gardens or going on a hike. I did it a lot in California and have been trying to get back into that routine now that I'm in Colorado.
