Salt Canyon 001.1, 2026

Through photography, video, sculpture, and performance, Gonzales’s work emphasizes the need to be more mindful of the origin story of the materials and resources that shape our everyday lives. Their work often incorporates “raw” construction materials such as stones, dirt, lumber, and, recently, rock salt. Though considered “raw”, these materials have been violently extracted and refined from their natural state. In addition to these materials, Gonzales also sources found or "ready-made" objects from the home – such as paperweights, door-stops, fire-pits, blankets, ashtrays. These objects are then paired with the so-called ‘raw’ materials in time-based performances and installations. Each piece is documented with video. Finally, still images are pulled from their video documentation are then exhibited as gridded fine-art prints or piles of prints – all of which are integrated into installations.

The performances that undergird the documentation and the final presentation in installations mean that the work is often ephemeral and transitional. Documentation may be the only proof that the work exists. Documentation always contains power; in this case, Gonzales claims that power as an indigenous person over their own work.

Gonzalez's work does not match the Western perceived visual cues of indigenous art. The work is not merely about observing a pile of stones and acknowledging that it comes from the earth. Their project emphasizes that the mining, transporting, and distributing those rocks involves the land and its people at every step. Through the photo documentation, they narrate the ongoing story of the land and the persistent struggles for safety, health, and sovereignty amongst all Indigenous peoples.