Featured Member Exhibition: Emmanuel Guerra
July 19 – September 28, 2024
Featured Member Exhibition: Emmanuel Guerra (he/they)
Light peeking in from the blinds — the shadows are adorning my apartment floor. I recount the
vastness of my family’s shared experience. How do I bring this forward and archive these
moments for the world to acknowledge while protecting us? In the corner of my room, I hear
low-humming growls from my dogs — canvases flooded washing away moments only we know
— as I reflect on the transient nature of the past, I embrace the fractures and unfinished nature
that my material carries. The iron-wrought bars on my windows transform into my hair and wrap
around me — soft and quick movements. I worry as I experience the supernatural — dogs and
hair growing — I look to the cross.
My art practice is fueled by a longing to honor my family and ancestors who have sacrificed for
me. My current work is a culmination of our dreams, longings, memories, and shared
experiences. In using our shared narratives of intergenerational grief, trauma, and
marginalization, I am recording and archiving our past and present with works on paper,
paintings, objects, and writings.
I dream that my memories are stored in the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet.
Memories are tethered to the points of my fingers, and as I draw and make objects these tethers
are sewn into my work. They are shiny, transparent, scaly, and wet. My hands are imbued with
memory—as I transfer marks to paper, I am drawing with memories. I laugh at myself when I
think this way because how would I tell my grandfather who detasseled corn / picked
strawberries / harvested peppers that my hands work not as mere tools but as vessels of
reconstructed memories?
He would understand.
