As a born and raised Peruvian, in my thesis installation, ¡Qué rico!, I examine the experience of cultural and identity construction outside of our country of origin, as well as outside of Latin America. I use food-related vernacular elements as my medium to represent the nostalgic experiences caused by migration. I interviewed several Latinx people and employed their stories as well as mine to reinterpret and expose the bold nature of Latinx culture influenced by my personal experiences of relocation alongside other Latinx stories.
Regarding ethnic and cultural features, Latin America is one of the most diverse regions, which constitutes a challenge when looking for its common features. Within this work, ¡Qué rico!, I reconstructed day-to-day aspects of public spaces in Latin America through typography, installation, digital illustration, animation, and sculptural elements. This effort is a compilation of mediums I explored during my two years at the MFA program. The signage paintings hanging from the ceiling replicate some visual codes which Latinx culture has. I intend to use them to draw the viewer’s attention through non-traditional shapes, vibrant colors, and phrases in Spanish. The table placed in the center of the installation keeps its function as a support platform, but this time, it holds six bottles of conceptual sauces representing the six people I interviewed for thesis research–it is a metaphor for how our differences are the essence of Latinx identity. Finally, these two elements interact with a video collage referring to migration processes and visual memory, including animation, images on free-to-use archives, sound design, and original footage created for this exhibition.
Through this work, I developed the ability to design elements from personal conception, take off from two-dimensional and digital forms, and further explore three-dimensional elements. I have challenged myself by making installations with different mediums, maintaining a visual narrative, and allowing the viewer to interact privately with all the features incorporated in the implementation. By providing slight visual hints of the context, I intend to create spaces for the audiences to decode the meaning of the pieces while providing them space to create their own associations with the migratory reality through observation and interaction.
Jesús Li’s website: jesusli.com
Instagram: @emejotali
