Alejandra Gonzalez Zertuche was born in Mexico, and moved with her family to the U.S. when she was 4 years old. Her parents were undocumented.
鈥淪ince I was really little, I always had my parents telling me like, 'Oh, you can't talk about your immigration situation,'鈥� Zertuche told CPTV鈥檚 鈥�Where Art Thou?鈥� host Ray Hardman. 鈥淵ou can't tell people because you never know.鈥�
But Zertuche wanted to share stories of her family and other undocumented families' experiences in the U.S. Early on she found the perfect medium 鈥� oil painting.
Zertuche鈥檚 paintings often depict people working at their jobs, trying to make a go of the American dream. Her art is colorful, and big.
鈥淲hen I was in art school I used to see all of these academic paintings. They were always oil paintings, and they were big portraits that were done for important people,鈥� explained Zertuche. 鈥淲hen I started doing portraits of people who were just workers, it was like, 鈥榃ell, they're important people to me.鈥� So that's kind of where that started, where I'm doing an oil painting on a really big canvas about this person who owns a taco truck, or who's a service worker.鈥�
Zertuche鈥檚 2023 painting, 鈥淒o帽a Luchona,鈥� portrays a woman, wearing a Mexican Lucha Libre-style wrestling mask, attempting to also apply makeup. Zertuche says the painting is a play on the word 鈥渓uchona,鈥� which translates as 鈥渟truggle鈥� or 鈥渇ight.鈥�
鈥淚 had been wanting to do like a luchador mask for a while now, and I was just like, 'Let me just put it on a girl,'鈥� Zertuche said. 鈥淚 wanted it to be big and in your face. It's just like the act of getting up every day and just doing your makeup can be a struggle as a woman. It seems like you always have to fight for something.鈥�
Zertuche said an important part of the process for her is getting to know her subjects before she paints them.
鈥淯sually I'll ask them about themselves, where they're coming from,鈥� Zertuche said. 鈥淎 lot of them have immigrated, and so I like to know those kinds of things, but also to make the paintings a little bit more personal. Sometimes it'll be random things, like, what's your favorite color? And if it's like blue, I like to include a lot of blue in the paintings.鈥�
Zertuche鈥檚 art is currently on display as part of the new exhibit 鈥淒isruptive Narratives鈥� at the Wilton Library.
Learn more:
Watch the full segment on 鈥淲here Art Thou?鈥� Sunday, June 23, at 7:30 p.m. on 黑料吃瓜网 Television, and streaming online.
