Teacher Name: Gabriel Mejia
Materials: Watercolor, Prismacolor Markers, Acrylic
Artist Statement: My artworks, inspired by what I see daily, surround the idea of immigration and how immigrants adjust to a new life in a new country. In what ways do immigrants, specifically my family and I, assimilate to the United States? How do I adjust my morals, needs, and likes to fit the environment and society I was introduced to? I hope to express the answers to the questions through my portfolios.
I moved countries three times in a span of seventeen years, and the most recent one was my immigration to the United States at age eleven. I was now self-aware and conscious about my surroundings. There is no more state of carefreeness. I now had to learn to be an “American” while never forgetting the beauty of Zomi culture. There had to be a balance between the two somehow.
From home-cooked meals, ordering traditional clothes from Myanmar, going to a culture-affiliated church, going to National Zomi Khawmpi in Oklahoma to celebrating July 4th, having easy access to fast foods, learning America’s history, eating burgers and pizzas, are many things I did for balance between my identity as a new immigrant living in the US. I explored how my family, specifically myself, embodied a new life in a new country through ethnic food, electronics, working minimum wage jobs, living paycheck to paycheck, chasing the American Dream, and connecting with others like them. I worked with different mediums ranging from acrylic paint to watercolor, as well as lettering and markers.
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