aquí estamos / here we are is an online exhibition, an act of collective solidarity, regeneration and celebration between queer artists based in the Bay Area and in Puerto Rico • aquí estamos / here we are es una exposición virtual, un acto de solidaridad, regeneración y celebración colectiva entre artistas cuir establecides en el Bay Area y en Puerto Rico

The project intends to have a poetic energy in public space that recognizes the fact that we are all interconnected and we need each other’s support during Covid-19 global pandemic more than ever. #thisisweirdwithoutyou Made in collaboration by: Juan Carlos Rodriguez rivera, Marcela Pardo Ariza & Felipe Garcia JR.

This project evolved from This is weird without you, a series of posters, made in dialogue with latinx, women and queer owned local businesses in the Mission, that were printed at home and wheatpasted in their boarded up storefronts at the beginning of shelter-in-place. The project intended to have a poetic energy in public space recognizing the fact that we are all interconnected and we need each other’s support now more than ever. The iteration for this project was made with Marcela Pardo Ariza.

We Stay Here Pintando Juntxs was an initiative to co-design five original murals at Mission High School (MHS) between Bay Area PoC and newcomer students at the school.

xPatterns is a digital space and a printed publication that centers marginalized and racialized folks in the graphic design field. The installation invites viewers to interact with the publication, collectively respond to questions about joy, view highlighted designer profiles from the Bay Area and nominate designers to be part of the digital space and future publications. The printed publication includes conversations, design projects, and resources from and for marginalized and racialized designers.

In this workshop, the students at San Jose State University discussed the ways in which colonization has impacted the formation of LGBTQIA+ identities. We brainstormed ways to decolonize our language, actions, bodies, and minds, and then created a cyanotype* mural/flag to share our ideas and reclaim our many intersecting identities. *Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that uses sunlight/UV light to expose cyan-blue designs. Shadows from objects placed on top of the cyanotype will leave marks on the fabric.

Poster published in conjunction with The Tallest Part of the Arch, group exhibition curated by SoEx Curatorial Council Member Marcela Pardo Ariza Featuring work by Susana Eslava, Jamil Hellu, Humanizando la Deportación (Humanizing Deportation), Javier Ocampo, Maria Paz, Purin Phanichphant and Cristina Victor with texts by Ángel Rafael Vázquez-Concepción, Juliana Delgado Lopera, Jackie Valle and Jovanna Venegas.

Branding for Pathways to Equity a design leadership experience for social equity.

Puñeta, roughly translates to “jerking off” but to boricuas it means a lot more than that. This altar pays homage, while creating a conversation between modernism and 99¢ aesthetics, to my relationship with the word: Puñeta. A word that is considered vulgar in some countries. A word that has been censored in the United States media. Puñeta has become a symbol for boricuas’ resistance and celebration. 

Created for Remezcla Dia de los Muertos Virtual Altars 2016: "Today, as Día de Muertos celebrations conclude, we tapped five artists to create virtual altars in honor of Juan Gabriel, the Mexican music icon who passed just two months ago."

A bilingual newspaper that collects and re-tells stories about the clash of cultural identities in the United States, especially those between Latin American immigrants & the dominant culture. Un periódico bilingüe que colecciona y cuenta historias acerca del choque de identidades culturales en los Estados Unidos, especialmente entre los inmigrantes latinoamericanos y la cultura dominante.

By extracting the essentials from a collection of Catholic imagery, relatable to Hispanic Americans, and combining it with icons associated with the United States pop-culture a new form will emerge. By exploring these combinations in a satirical manner, new questions will also arise. One of the project’s main goals is to incite judgment by criticizing the concept of labeling artifacts and imagery as kitsch. Project designed as part of my MFA at Pratt Institute

Art direction for Amalgamated Bank's brand identity update. Original logo and branding designed by Pentagram.

#myculturalname aims at criticizing social labeling by creating satire around cultural naming practices. Based on the concept of a portmanteau, a word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from a blending of two or more distinct forms, #myculturalname configures an unique individual’s cultural identity label through the use of logarithms. By receiving data given by the user, it combines morphemes in order to create a new name or label. Project designed during my MFA at Pratt Institute.

“Aromatizantes” is an exploration of the language of rear-view mirror hangers from a pedestrian’s point of view. Project designed as part of my MFA at Pratt Institute.

This series is based on a personal journey; the discovery of who I am.