Black Hole (Resident Alien) diptych

A digital projection of a NASA Black Hole photograph onto the belly button of a pregnant, brown body- examines the extraterrestrial phenomena of BIPOC reproductive power in America. Paralleling the processes of public domain photography and the government's arresting portrayal of "Hispanic" people in America, the gravity of Latinx identity construction is offered as a resolution for internal conflict by the artist.

Resident Alien is the US government’s designation of immigrants who pass a "substantial presence" test on the path to citizenship. Complicating the government’s space race with inhumane immigration policies, the image distorts and reflects our nation’s treatment of “anchor babies” and their mixed status families with scintillating distraction. The abstract process the government engages to deflect attention from the black hole of human rights abuses by ICE, highlights its technological capacity for denial.

The Linea Negra series photographs (2008-present) documents the inception of gender, power and race structures from slogans, slang, maxims and "old wives tales" to internalized, institutional violence. The works celebrate the melanin line appearing during gestation (most prominent in women of color) as a biological pieta; the first biographical mark on the procreative body and the first sign of our creative humanity.