Jacalyn Lopez Garcia

ARTIST STATEMENT
I am an American multimedia artist of Mexican heritage who was born in Los Angeles, California. Raised in middle-class neighborhoods of various suburbs of Southern California, I began to look deep into my cultural base and discovered a need to create art from a Mexican-American perspective and with a Chicana consciousness.

Many of the images I create are memory-based and are intended to explore contemporary themes based on sexuality, gender issues, religion, and the complexities of cultural identity, I enjoy integrating visual, social and technological literacy into my art making because I am interested in challenging the boundaries that exist between politics and art. My artistic vision is fueled by my desire to create reflections of the past while exploring new understandings of the present with the use of new technologies and diverse artistic practices. Creating art with the use of new technologies helped me discover how diverse artistic practices (photography, computer art, music, CD-Roms and video) serve as catalysts of memory that can conjure up a variety of social and cultural contexts.

From the Garden is based on Isabel De La Pena's fictional short story, Lord Hear My Prayer. Like De La Pena's short story, From the Garden is intended to explore a variety of contemporary issues related to the complexities and dilemmas of the "coming of age experience". However, in it's electronic version, it is driven by a narrated story, photography, music, computer art and text-based art in an attempt to further investigate the role in which sexual oppression, religion and other social ideologies continue to instill bias and fear in the complex developmental stages of one's sexuality.

In it's entirety (8 minutes) From the Garden points to a vision where the self collides with stereotypes and other socially constructed representations of women searching for their sexual identities. This multimedia project on CD-rom is further intended to offer the viewer a critical examination of the pychological damage suffered by women who were named after the Virgin Mary.

In all sincerity, it is my hope that From the Garden will inspire a deeper investigation of what shapes one's moral, spiritual and social consciousness.

This project would not have been possible without the generous support of the author, actors, musicians, technicians, family, friends and financial sponsors.

The music collage for this CD-rom was created in collaboration with Lawrence Bassage and Los Romeros.

For additional details on the CUATRO exhibition visit
The California Museum of Photography

NOTE: this version does not include the project in it's entirety. If you would
like to receive a copy of the cd with music and all the photographs
send a message to Jacalyn.







ARTIST STATEMENT I am an American multimedia artist of Mexican heritage who was born in Los Angeles, California. Raised in middle-class neighborhoods of various suburbs of Southern California, I began to look deep into my cultural base and discovered a need to create art from a Mexican-American perspective and with a Chicana consciousness. Many of the images I create are memory-based and are intended to explore contemporary themes based on sexuality, gender issues, religion, and the complexities of cultural identity, I enjoy integrating visual, social and technological literacy into my art making because I am interested in challenging the boundaries that exist between politics and art. My artistic vision is fueled by my desire to create reflections of the past while exploring new understandings of the present with the use of new technologies and diverse artistic practices. Creating art with the use of new technologies helped me discover how diverse artistic practices (photography, computer art, music, CD-Roms and video) serve as catalysts of memory that can conjure up a variety of social and cultural contexts. *From the Garden* is based on Isabel De La Pena's fictional short story, *Lord Hear My Prayer. Like De La Pena's short story, From the Garden* is intended to explore a variety of contemporary issues related to the complexities and dilemmas of the "coming of age experience". However, in it's electronic version, it is driven by a narrated story, photography, music, computer art and text-based art in an attempt to further investigate the role in which sexual oppression, religion and other social ideologies continue to instill bias and fear in the complex developmental stages of one's sexuality. In it's entirety (8 minutes) *From the Garden* points to a vision where the self collides with stereotypes and other socially constructed representations of women searching for their sexual identities. This multimedia project on CD-rom is further intended to offer the viewer a critical examination of the pychological damage suffered by women who were named after the Virgin Mary. In all sincerity, it is my hope that *From the Garden* will inspire a deeper investigation of what shapes one's moral, spiritual and social consciousness. This project would not have been possible without the generous support of the author, actors, musicians, technicians, family, friends and financial sponsors. The music collage for this CD-rom was created in collaboration with Lawrence Bassage and Los Romeros.
For additional details on the CUATRO exhibition visit The California Museum of Photography NOTE: this version does not include the project in it's entirety. If you would like to receive a copy of the cd with music and all the photographs send a message to Jacalyn.