NEW WORLD :: Bella Maria Varela

Cunsthaus

November 9, 2019

My practice is rooted in the resourceful legacy of immigrant hustlers, which has compelled me to not only collect but also corrupt and alter this junk to amplify the power dynamics inherent within. I created New World from my perspective as a first-generation Guatemalan-American woman, reinterpreting what it means to take up space in an emblematically American vacationland and repurposing the trauma and humor embedded in found objects. It is a story written collectively and trans-historically in response to contemporary anti-immigrant sentiments; it is made in honor of child immigrants, resilient dreamers, and the ones getting swept away, around and through the mess. highlights the confusion, pride and resiliency of first-generation Latinx women.