Video

"Art for me is living, is surviving, is love, is communication; it's the way that I can live every day.”

"'Insta11ations' is made up of artists who are experimenting with the ways people interact with public art, who reimagine public spaces, and who express stories of social justice and equity in their work."

"If you give something time, and you focus on it — almost anything — you'll find something interesting about it." 

“Our parents were discriminated against for using Spanish; there wasn’t really an emphasis to teach us, so we just grew up around it, picking it up. And it’s kind of this bastardization of language."

"'Insta11ations' is made up of artists who are experimenting with the ways people interact with public art, who reimagine public spaces, and who express stories of social justice and equity in their work."

“People can forget what certain micro-aggressions can look like. Words are very, very, very powerful.”

“The real impetus for me is something I just can’t out of my head, and I just keep thinking: I need to make this; I have to make this.”

“What gets me going creatively is the community that I live in. It's really just absorbing everything in the community, and then how I replicate that in the studio practice."

"Oak Cliff really pushed me into understanding that this is my neighborhood, this is me, these are the things I'm seeing — these things are worthy of being shown. That neighborhood as transformed me." 

"That you can make something that can express an idea without using any words, and someone can see it and formulate their own language around it seems like unifying and gratifying thing to do."

“If I can use art to bring a different perspective that can change people’s minds, or at least get them to acknowledge an issue, I think my role as an artist is a viable one.”

“It’s important for somebody to see their reflection in any way possible. But it’s better when it’s a positive reflection and not a negative.”

The exhibition is co-curated by Tyler Blackwell and Steven Matijcio.

"A collective expression of the joys and chaos of 24-hour home parenting."

You can experience the immersive installation once more this Saturday, January 25, 2020.

Valdez and Keene closed out their insightful conversation with a moving impromptu performance.

Spring 2019 promotional video by Glasstire's Jennifer Battaglia.

Ed. note: This video was part of the recent two-person exhibition by Dallas-based artists Carolyn Sortor and Michael A Morris titled Working Groups, on view in Dallas at the relaunch of the non-profit space, The MAC.

“You can choose to be exceptional based on something other than pre-determined measurements of what has value.” 

"One of the most influential artists for me has been Teresita Fernández."