A Very Anxious Feeling: Voices of Unrest in the American Experience - Catalog - Page 46
ELMER GUEVARA
The action of lifting one’s voice, either as literal as shouting
in protest or through a visual form of expressing one’s views,
is, in my eyes, the most American action. The given right of
freedom of speech is the fundamental right that, when
exercised, grants a voice; it presents one’s representation
and participation in society. Lifting my voice comes as a
binary function involving the medium of paint and imagery.
The two elements construct language composing narrative
experiences I bring to life. The narratives come from my
family’s struggles with displacement from their homeland
and challenges that come with adapting to an
American environment as immigrant minorities. My work
honors my own and other families that faced difficulties
in journeying to the U.S. in the vision of prosperity and
the American promise of a better life. This idea of the
cliché American dream is abundant in American TV media
that presents hope of this postcard image of the U.S. The
reality makes the acquisition of this vision of a better life
problematic when facing low-wage incomes, alienation
and language barriers, inadequate education systems, and
the environment’s stresses. Still, their quest allows their
offspring, like me, the opportunity to work, create, and also
lift our voices.
In the work Poker Face, 2020, a self-portrait, I return to the
years as a child where I took the duty, in a literal sense, of
speaking the native language and translating for my parents
to their native tongue, Spanish, for essential matters. When
such events came forth—from signing necessary documents
to setting deals with adults to finalizing commitments—I
took an adult’s role to facilitate for my parents because I
was the one person that could translate for our household. I
took a position of maturity as a child, bringing seriousness to
the discussion at hand, often making high-pressure, critical
decisions. I was their voice in those days, and today, my work
remains the lifting of their voice.
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Even in the state our country stands today, existing,
producing, and sharing art builds hope for me. It becomes the
space to digest ideas, to digest events happening around us.
I share my work as an open avenue to share and be honest
about learning from others’ histories, ways of living, and
finding similarities or events that teach others about one
another. My drive is to create discussions about confronting
social issues that separate us and, in essence, build a sense
of community and unity. The difficult conversations that
address race and inequality will be painful, but, on the
upside, it will gear us toward eventual harmony that will bring
our voices together to work toward an equitable state. These
conversations are challenges that await our society, but I see
these dialogues forming from art.
Elmer Guevara in his studio, 2020
