“Do You See What I See?” (2020), from the series, “Your Feelings Are Valid,” matte medium lift, lumen with DASS Transfer, and cotton floss on fabric, 8.5 x 11”
Victoria Hernandez Velazquez draws her subject matter from her life and the challenges she faces. Born in Michoacán, Mexico, she moved with her family to Emporia, Kansas, when she was one month old and recalls learning Spanish and English simultaneously.
Photography captured her imagination in middle school when she received her first digital camera. “At the beginning, I was interested in the commercial side of photography,” she said. In high school she took classes in digital photography and yearbook. It wasn’t until college that she was exposed to contemporary art and the contemporary side of photography.
Making numerous visits back to Mexico with her family enabled her to forge a strong sense of its culture as well as her own heritage. In her 2020 series, “Children of Immigrants,” she addressed the difficulties families confront as they attempt to find better lives for themselves and their families. Quotations from the immigrants she interviewed are superimposed over photographic portraits manipulated to resemble painted sketches. A triptych from the series was awarded Honorable Mention in the Salina Art Center Sunflower Biennial.
Other series address anxieties and the feelings inspired by such issues as hair loss (“Piecing it Together”) or learning to appreciate one’s own beauty (“The Color of Eyes”). “Your Feelings Are Valid” tackles her complicated relationship with food.
The food series was inspired by re-reading her high school journals and the desire to explore those obsessive thoughts she continued to have. Somber black and white selfies are printed on larger pieces of fabric while white shapes float in the background. In several, what initially appears to be flowers are actually slices of strawberries or bell peppers, revealing the artist’s fixation with what she should eat. Snippets from her diary such as “Do You See What I See” and “Can I Be Finally Be Happy?” are embroidered onto the fabric. Her mother, who had long embroidered and sewn as a hobby, assisted her daughter in adding the words to her work.
The presence of food reflects the author’s preoccupation with her weight; creating the work was not simply an attempt to conquer her repetitive thinking, she said, but to reveal her emotional state.
More recently, Hernandez has become fascinated with bookbinding and bookmaking. Utilizing Japanese stab binding with a royal stitch, her initial creation, “Reminiscing,” combined images of the things she holds most dear: her family, friends, favorite places and herself.
A second book, “it was blurry,” deals with past abuse, combining childhood photos with stippled drawings and handmade paper. Both books were featured in her senior exhibition, “i wish i had control,” at Emporia State College, where she received her B.A. in photography and graphic design in 2023.
“i have to tell you something,” a series featuring photos of herself printed on transparent fabric, was also exhibited in Emporia. The work examines the routines of her life and the feelings of sadness that can accompany oppressive repetition. Her father helped design the installation, installing metal rods perpendicular to the walls. The textiles were draped over the supports, allowing one to view the images printed on either side, at times simultaneously seeing the ghostly combination of two photos through the sheer material. The bird’s-eye view of some of the shots was made possible by Hernandez’s MacGyver-like talent when she attached her camera to a ceiling fan and duct taped its blades to prevent any movement.
In the future, Hernandez hopes to continue her schooling or attend a photography residency, but, she says, “Most importantly, I want to keep creating my art using alternative processes in photography.”
For more information, victoriahernandez.art
All images courtesy the artist
