monica prado
Monica Prado is a third-year graduate student at the School of Art at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, Texas. Prado is currently studying Printmaking and Papermaking under Professors, Sang-Mi Yoo, and Stacy Elko with exploration in interdisciplinary studies such as Performance Art and Ceramics. Prado received her BFA in Printmaking and Painting from West Texas A&M University, in Canyon, Texas where she studied under McNair Mentor, Scott Frish. Monica is a native Texan who continues to experiment with different processes, primarily the integration of craft and fine art. Prado explores identity and uses methods in which additive and subtractive substrates act as a metaphor for her Mexican-American upbringing.
Artist Statement:
This body of work is a beginning exploration of my Mexican American identity. My first two years in graduate school were spent experimenting with Photography and Printmaking. In the Photography series, I focused on self-portraits in which I would confront the viewer with a stern gaze with a proclamation of who I am, a Tejana. I also wanted to play with the idea of growing up Catholic and continuously having the Virgen Mary look at me and gaze down at me steadily. Having such an influential icon in my life I know she has played a massive part in who I am today. I am looking at my relationship with this icon now as a grown woman. From doll-like influences to adulthood what are the many lessons if at all has she taught me? In this time of discovery, I refer to Gloria Anzaldua's word Nepantla, a Nahuatl word meaning "in-between space." AnaLouise Keating explains that Anzaldua uses this term to, "represent psychic/spiritual/material points of potential transformation (8 Keating.)