My series, "Don't Touch My Hair." This particular series draws from my personal experience as a child and adult of strangers trying to touch my hair. I have curly hair that attracts unwanted touching, an invasion of personal boundaries. Curiosity sparks interest and then the action is justified on a subconscious level through racism. This action echoes the lack of personal boundaries/ body ownership of African American slavery. Today, these same beliefs have evolved into microaggressions such as hair touching. I have replaced the hair with various materials that convey the alluring exoticism of curly hair. Similar to a tropical bird, women from ethnicities outside of the mainstream culture carry an allure and an air of exoticism. We tend to be encapsulated and desired in much of the same way as a tropical bird. I use mirrors and text to create a self-aware environment for the viewer that calls to attention her/his role as a voyeur. My projects focus specifically on the tension between a subject of desire and a separation of objectivity.

 

Alexandria "Inez" Garcia grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sparked by her desire to pursue art, she moved across the country. She attended Alfred University, the nationally second ranked glass art program, located in upstate New York. She continued her path by fusing her art and Chicana identity. She earned a minor in Spanish Literature, specializing in Latin American cultures. Her senior thesis combined the two with a visual representation of western perceptions of Latin culture.

 

She continued her exploration to the Basque Country in Northern, Spain. There, she studied a semester in the Universidad de País Vasco in Bilbao and witnessed the Spanish "Crisis" as Spain underwent an economic collapse in 2012. This altered her perspective on art making and cultural identity that still plays out in her work today.

 

Now, she primarily works in glass, exploring multiple modalities of the medium through casting, painting. and screen printing. She partners with local non-profits and educational institutions to instruct sculpture classes, provide consultation, speak publicly, and create representation for women of color in the arts. These local organizations include Ogden Contemporary Arts, Curly Me!, The Leonardo, The Springville Museum of Art, and Salt Lake Arts Academy.