I am a South American, Chilean-born, trans and intersex visual artist and educator who works primarily with collage, installation, and murals. The subject matter of my work focuses on everyday images and objects related to childhood and adolescence.

I am particularly interested in childhood because in this period the boundaries between reality and fiction are not yet defined. I intentionally work with materials– such as children’s stories and games– that are implicitly embedded with morals and political ideologies and which indirectly teach children social and behavioral norms around gender, sexuality, race, class, and nationalism. By drawing attention to these norms, I render them uncanny. My intention with this strategy is to pause or interrupt the narrative, to introduce ambiguity in the face of supposed certainty.

The starting point for me is always a found object or image that triggers a series of formal and conceptual connections. I cut up, reposition, extract or multiply details, and erase features in order to build collages and installations. The choice of collage is related to the fact that it is often considered a minor medium within the visual arts. This practice allows me to make small modifications and alterations in the meaning and use of the objects and images I choose, challenging the embedded narratives in the source material while still inviting audiences into the work through familiar imagery.