Get To Know Me: Jessica

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ARTISTIC STYLE? 

I tend to focus more on written stuff not so much visual art but I feel like Teen Lab has me branching out more. I think it's really cool because I haven't worked with a lot of the materials I've used here. I work with a lot of ideas that deal with my culture, I'm puerto rican, and especially in Chicago there's a lot of pride in being from certain cultures. I also tend to focus on gentrification because in the neighborhood I live in there are a lot of things changing and not always in a good way.

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WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO CREATE? 

Things that I have been through in my life and my family has been through inspires me. My grandmother always talks about the hard times growing up in Puerto Rico. Even though I didn't experience that when I lived there, I saw some of the hardships that I know people go through. But it's not necessarily the hardships I go through because I know I have so much privilege so I am using that privilege in a good way.

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HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PROCESS? DOES IT START WITH A SKETCH, A PHOTO, OR AN IDEA?

I'm really all over the place and sometimes I don't know what I am doing until I'm doing it. Most times I'll try to start with a sketch but then I will run out of ideas and just start working so those ideas come to me in the middle of working.

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WHAT DOES TEEN LAB MEAN TO YOU? 

It has been pretty amazing, it's a welcoming escape from everything on the outside. I can leave my problems and everything outside and come here to work on something that I love with people that are warm and accepting. So it's been great and it means a safe space where I can come and not worry about all of my problems.