Jasmine Zelaya Jasmine Zelaya is a multi-disciplinary, first-generation, Honduran-American artist. The daughter of parents who immigrated to the US in the early 1970’s, much of her work references the aesthetics of that period. Zelaya’s work explores themes of identity, assimilation and the brown body through a familial narrative rich with symbology. Zelaya received her BFA in Painting in 2006 from the Kansas City Art Institute. Based in Houston, her work has been featured on television media and in numerous publications, including as a cover artist for New American Paintings. Zelaya’s work was recently included in the 2021 Texas Biennial: A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon. StatementMy work is informed by my experience as a first generation, LatinX artist. Through portraiture and the language of paint, my work explores themes of identity. At once painterly and glittery, these busy surfaces distract from underlying tensions and the gaze of my subjects.Floral elements are utilized as graphic representations of not only a familial narrative, but also the contrast of the natural and artificial world. Lush flowers, vines and patterns emerge in order to immerse the subject and capture the viewer’s attention. The subjects are at once disengaged while others display various degrees of intimacy. The women are depicted as both virtuous and erotic vessels, and draws references from Bernini’s “The Ecstasy of St. Teresa.” The distinction of emotions is convoluted. There is at once a sense of rapture blurred with anguish. The duality of these themes, are as much relevant today as they were during the 17th century. My recent work is in direct response to the things on my mind at present, mainly the injustices of our flawed systems and the oppression and murders of BIPOC. While working with silver fringe on recent video projections, I was reminded of the silver heating blankets used in detention centers. This inexpensive material at first seems celebratory, but in fact has much heavier connotations. It is my hope to honor the lives of those affected and lost, and as the daughter of immigrants to bring awareness to those less visible. *ARTIST INTERVIEW