June 26, 2018

Oye Mi Canto

By Anna Alvarado
Oye Mi Canto

For those that know me, know my art represents my life. It’s raw, fluid and vibrant. My figures are never proportionally correct, my lines bleed and I’m not a fine artist. My work is not always something someone wants to hang in their home and that’s ok because it’s all me. Whether it be experiences I’ve lived to drawing inspiring people I greatly admire, my artwork always come from deep within and is created with great love.

This piece here is one of my most treasured experiences. I’ve had hundreds of generous offers to purchase the piece but the original hangs in my home. Though I used a beautiful Latina singer, Ixya Herrera as my model, the women was created to represent me. You can’t tell but in the middle of that piece, there were tons of tears mixed in with the ink. You see, when I started drawing the eyes, a perfect knot appeared in one of eyelids as I applied the ink. Not very many people know that my mom was blind so that knot brought back so many emotions I’ve suppressed.

As I continued to draw the piece with tears falling on the wood, I could hear my Tata (grandfather) telling me that no matter what my mother chose to do or not do with her life, she loved me more than I’ll ever know. He went on to say she would always be my mother and that her blood ran through my veins. The voice was clear and that moment was so perfect I had to draw it, so I added a hummingbird to represent my grandfather. It was my first hummingbird.

The piece is called “Oye Mi Canto” which translates to hear my song. With all it’s imperfections, everything about this piece is beautifully perfect. This is my song, my life, my story and to this day my favorite piece.