Daniela Garcia

El Mercado

Oil, charcoal on linen

El Mercado refers to an open market, this painting symbolizes the monetary value that has been placed on our current system to keep it in place. The presence of immigrants trying to come to the US provides an opportunity for funding to be spent on policing, containing and keeping them out. This creates a system where the item being sold at the market are the immigrants at the US border. The young boy stands in the center of all the advertisements for the market, oblivious to the environment he has stepped into.

Oil and charcoal on linen.
34 x 34 inches

About the artist

Daniela Garcia

Daniela Garcia is a first-generation Mexican American. Born in Northridge California, she spent her childhood traveling between the rural community of Lake Los Angeles and Guanajuato Mexico. From a young age she was raised surrounded by immigrant communities and traditions, her father was a refuge for anyone who needed a place to stay as they immigrated from Mexico to California. Her art practice centers around this experience. As a child, immigration was a necessity for her family's survival. As a young adult, she experienced the hostility towards immigrants and the constant fight to keep them out. This drove her current body of work which addresses the clashing feeling of family and opportunity, and the fear and hostility that has developed towards her community in the recent administration. Garcia is a first-generation college graduate. She received her BFA in Drawing and Painting from California State University Long Beach and also received her teaching credential from here. Garciai has had the opportunity to exhibit her work throughout Southern California. She currently lives and works in Ventura County.