2023 Ray Warren Symposium Virtual Art Gallery

Title: Basilio
Artist: Celeste Escobedo
Materials: 35 mm Black & White Film
Description:
Artist Statement: Celeste Escobedo is a 21-year-old Chicana artist from Los Angeles.

Previous Next

Title: Remains
Artist: Sydney Wegener
Materials: Linoleum block printing, oil based ink on paper.
Description: “Remains” was inspired by “Hostile Terrain 94,” an installation created by the Undocumented Migration Project. Like “Hostile Terrain 94,” I wanted to bring attention to the increasing rate of migrant deaths generated by the United States’s “Prevention through Deterrence” policy on border control. Since 1994, efforts have been made to funnel people attempting to cross illegally from Mexico into the U.S. through the Sonoran Desert. It is the hottest desert in both Mexico and the US, and covers roughly 100,000 square miles. Forcing migrants through the desert has led to ever climbing rates of death and disappearance. “Remains” was created in November of 2022, in an attempt to bring attention to what had already become the deadliest year on record, and it is designed to call attention to the particular brutality of the Sonoran. While already up to as many as 50% of bodies found go unreported by Border Control, many of its victims never even have a chance to be found, leaving behind little to no bodily remains at all. A study by the Undocumented Migration Project revealed that bodies in the Sonoran could be skeletonized and scattered in as little as 24 hours. “Remains” focuses on what might be left behind, even when a body may not be. It is made up of 900 two inch prints, consisting of 22 individual objects, each intended to represent what might remain of the people who had died there that year, even if their complete body might not. Each print represents a body, in accordance with the estimates available at the time of its creation. The objects represented include commonly abandoned items like backpacks and water bottles, personal items like children’s toys and photographs, and potentially identifying objects, like IDs, birth certificates, and teeth.
Artist Statement: Sydney Wegener is a Mexican-American artist studying at Reed College. They are majoring in Studio Art and graduate in 2025.

Title: Repurposing Pain
Artist: Siana Yohai
Materials: Watercolor on watercolor paper, graphite on notebook paper, tea stain, painter's tape.
Description: I made the watercolor and sketches separately and only recently combined them when I was inspired by the call for art. Both of them were made during painful times in my life. Creating them gave me an outlet and a sense of hope and inspiration. I hadn’t drawn faces in a long time and I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out. I was reminded of my artistic and creative ability that had been dormant for a while because I had strayed from it. I accidentally stained the sketches with tea but I liked the effect it had. Tearing each piece separately allowed me to piece them together however I wanted. I attached them to the watercolor using tape which means that they can be removed, moved, and repurposed. When I worked with watercolor in the past I was often very careful and tried to control the outcome. This one felt more like a pure expression and an exercise in painting freely and not judging what appeared. I felt a sense of freedom doing this. I don't know how the audience will receive this work and I don't want to tell them how they should. I’m happy if it speaks to someone and if it doesn’t that’s ok too. The process of making this piece reflects the meaning almost accidentally. I quite literally repurposed my pain into this art first when I created each part and later when I combined them. I hope that the knowledge of the process and perceiving the art itself will speak to people’s experiences with pain, creativity, growth and whatever else comes up for them.

Title: Surface Level
Artist: Isha Elboctorcy
Materials: Blender
Description: Feeling "surface level" as a multiracial person has been something I've been wanting to depict for a long time. I've 3D modeled myself but kept identifying details, along with my skin color, to create a blank canvas, that hopefully others can relate to.
Artist Statement: Pasadena, TX; Studio Art '24