Lucia Garzón
Rise
Wood, cardboard, plastic, water pump, bed
Artist Statement:
My work investigates the intersection between my personal experiences as a second-generation American and the experiences of my family who immigrated from Colombia and Italy. Through exploration of installation, textiles, and print I address my place as a queer person operating within various opposing cultures and identities. My work comments on the complexities of living in the margins of these communities while honoring and navigating an understanding of the dense histories of my family. Immigration, labor, and personal identity are main themes of my included work, as this piece aims to celebrate my family's resilience and to reveal the futilities of working in a capitalist society.
Participating in this group show alongside an inspiring roster of artists has allowed me to be a part of a supportive space which for the first time, fully consists of makers whose practices resemble my own. Having access to a community of artists who make sculptural and installation-based work has been such a great resource in hashing out ideas and technical aspects of our works. Challenges always present themselves when creating large scale installation-based works, but collaborating and finding solutions with other artists has been the biggest reward of this experience.
About the Artist
Lucia Garzón is a Colombian-Italian-American interdisciplinary artist working in a range of media including but not limited to wood, textiles, print, and video. Lucia graduated from Tyler School of Art in 2018 with a BFA in printmaking. The main themes in Lucia’s work focus on the intersection between the immigrant values and histories passed on through her family. Garzón often draws correlations between her artistic labor and the physical labor that is intrinsic to her family’s identity. The resulting work is a celebration of this shared history, which seeks to honor the labors of a family and illuminate connections with Garzón’s identity today.
Lucia has had the opportunity to exhibit in many venues throughout Philadelphia including Vox Populi, Grizzly Grizzly, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, and the Fleisher Art Memorial. Lucia was awarded the Joseph Robert Foundation grant in 2019 along with a solo show at the Da Vinci Art Alliance in July 2019. Lucia has been an apprentice at the Fabric Workshop and Museum and a fellow at the Soap Box Print Shop. In the summer of 2021 Lucia attended the ACRE residency in Wisconsin. She was artist-in-residence at Grizzly Grizzly Gallery, and she created a printed publication in collaboration with the Philadelphia collective, Many Fortunes. Lucia works and resides in Philadelphia.