Esme-Nestor

I come from a place where there is no opportunity to become something more. My family emigrated from Colombia to America in pursuit of the American Dream. Instead they ended up raising seven children in the ghetto. It is a constant fight and struggle to break the labels that society puts into place. Growing up in an urban neighborhood you realize all you have is your family and your pride. The only role models are drug dealers; they are the ones within the society with wealth and a ghetto prestige. Schools and those who work within them think the students are a lost cause, and cannot be bothered to help the students who need it most.
My artwork reflects the struggle that I have faced throughout my life. Racial profiling, ambition, abandonment, and survival are some of the realities my works represent. It is difficult for minorities to move up in the world. We become obsessed or sometimes addicted to trying to become more than the label that is assigned to us. The obsessions and addictions get the best of us and make us abandon those we love, or the other things that matter most to us. My work shows the beauty in the struggle to survive within a lower socioeconomic status.
In my work I use a variety of methods and materials such as; collage, newspapers, lithograph, cardboard, bricks, pen & ink, oils and spray paint. The reason for these materials and methods is to show that any one thing can become something more than what it was. Even a rose is able to grow out of the cold concrete. In everyday life a person is constantly being judged, doubted, and ridiculed and vice-versa. My work challenges the viewer to engage in a confrontation. You become judge, jury and executioner- you fulfill the stereotype.