ABOUT

ABOUT

Photo credit Paola Longoria

Suzy González is an artist, educator, writer, self-publisher, curator, and organizer based in Yanaguana, aka San Antonio, TX. She has had solo exhibits at Galería E.V.A., Spellerberg Projects, Presa House Gallery, Hello Studio, Palo Alto College, and two-person exhibits at Museo Eduardo Carrillo, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, and the University of Connecticut. She recently completed murals with Texas A&M-San Antonio, the City of Logan, UT, the City of Pasadena, TX, San Antonio Museum of Art, and Centro San Antonio. She has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center (VT), the Trelex Residency (Peru), The Wassaic Residency (NY), Starry Night Residency (NM), the Studios at MASS MoCA (MA), and Hello Studio (TX). Suzy publishes Xicana Vegan zine, co-organizes the San Anto Zine Fest, and is a part of Dos Xicanx, Breathe Collective, and the Water Writers Collective. She's an alumni of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute, the Intercultural Leadership Institute, and served as a mentor for the NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. Suzy teaches in the Visual and New Media Arts Department at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX. She holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from Texas State University.

My enthusiasm towards decolonizing consumption and art creation is intertwined with remembering the lessons that the earth has to teach us. I work with natural plant materials like corn husks in conjunction with manipulated art supplies to consider identity, mixedness, and resistance. The corn husks represent the skin of the figures, recalling Mesoamerican beliefs that our very beings are created from maíz. This material use works to dismantle folk and fine art hierarchies. I call these “mestizx media” works, reclaiming the “mestizo” colonial caste label. I define mestizx media as when materials originate from the region(s) of the artist’s ancestors. Accepting mixedness is also about embracing queerness and the fluid nature of identities that reject constructed binaries. My public artwork has included themes of celebrating contemporary artists and activists, histories of the land, native plants and animals, and concepts of love and solidarity. My work serves to work through my own intersections and to strive for intercultural conversations in my community. This, I hope, will open doors to compassion and healing in this world of destruction.