Childhood Nostalgia

What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?
Since mid last year, I’ve been very focused on my project Childhood Nostalgia, with which I was awarded the PECDA Veracruz 2025 grant. It has been a very labor-intensive and emotional process.

This project consists of a series of nine watercolor paintings about childhood from the perspective of women. Through a visual narrative, I present a journey through my memories as a child in a multicultural family, raised by a working woman, in the city of Xalapa, Veracruz.

In this series of paintings, I recreate family photographs and experiences from my childhood. I represent memories as something subjective, idealized, and gradually losing clarity over time. I explore elements such as play, protection, refuge, and the unawareness of the complexities of adulthood, but I also introduce an adult perspective that reveals aspects that went unnoticed at the time.

Another process I’ve been working on simultaneously is knitting. Something that keeps me motivated to create is switching techniques whenever I feel tired, so during this watercolor project I’ve been alternating painting sessions with knitting projects to stay inspired.

What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on them?
Working on this project has given me the opportunity to focus on watercolor technique. It has been my favorite since I was a child, and this time I’ve been able to explore it in a more complex way.

Something I’ve unlearned is working only in small formats, as these watercolors measure 35 x 50 cm, which is the largest format I’ve worked with so far. This means it takes me several sessions to complete each piece, which has made me more patient.

Finally, I’m beginning to unlearn my fear of applying to open calls. It’s something that feels very overwhelming to me, but I also recognize that it can bring many opportunities, so I’m pushing myself to step out of my comfort zone.

What words, ideas or emotions were going through your head?
The process has stirred many emotions, especially when I selected the childhood photos I’m recreating. It has made me remember many happy and sad moments from that time, and it also makes me deeply value and miss that stage of my life, when I felt much more present and accompanied, with my mom and my sister.

Were there any conversations, movies, music, or books that made their way into that work?
I’ve been listening to songs by Los Hermanos Rincón, which my parents used to play a lot during my childhood, and I think I’ve also tried to project into my paintings the sensations of the film Totoro, especially the relationship between the sisters and their everyday childhood moments.

I’ve also reconnected with my Italian side, since when I was a child that culture was much more present in my life through my closeness with my mom, so I’ve been listening to Italian songs from children’s series and films.

In addition, I’ve been thinking a lot about the computer games I loved, like Club Penguin, Moshi Monsters, and Pet Society. I’ve remembered my cat Pancho, my stuffed animals, my Polly Pockets, my collection of tazos, and the stickers my mom used to bring my sister and me from her trips to Mexico City.

Finally, I recently watched the film Sentimental Value and talked with a friend about how I completely identified with the different relationships within that family, and with the idea of the house as the stage of their lives. I’ve been able to see all the changes in my home through childhood photos, since I’ve never moved, and I’ve felt a deep nostalgia thinking about how we painted over the walls my mom had decorated for my sister and me before we were born, and how everything was different. We all change, even the house, and those moments now exist only as memories—and I now hope to capture them in my paintings.

What's been the most difficult thing you've faced recently in your creative process?
It has been difficult to stay motivated working on the same theme every day for several months. It’s something I don’t usually do—I don’t normally create illustration series—so once I finish one piece, a new process usually begins. But I think this experience has been very valuable because it has pushed me to plan a much more ambitious project than I would have undertaken without the encouragement of this grant.

For example, going through the entire planning process—writing the project, researching visual references, brainstorming concepts, organizing my memories, selecting photos, making sketches, etc.—is something I don’t usually do, but it gives this work depth and a strong foundation. I adopted this approach from my graphic design studies, where this was how we were asked to present our projects. I always found it a bit tedious, but now I feel it was worth the effort to properly support this project.

What is your favorite restaurant and what do you recommend we order?
I don’t think I have a favorite restaurant, but I really enjoy everything they make at Apus Falafel and the French toast at Ajolote, in Xalapa.

If your life were a movie this month, what would it be called and who would write the soundtrack?
The title would be Winter of Memories, and the soundtrack would be by Adrianne Lenker, whom I’ve been listening to a lot and who makes me feel the same emotions my project brings up.

Which studios, laboratories, or workshops have you collaborated with recently or would you like to collaborate with in the future?
Lately I’ve been a bit isolated, spending my afternoons working on my paintings, so I haven’t collaborated much. I work part-time at a book printing press, where I’ve been doing editorial design and production work, and at the end of last year I was also invited by the project Mancha to talk about my illustration processes.

Recommend one or more artists you follow who inspire you, and tell us what you like most about their work or their way of working.
For this project, I was very inspired by the artist Maddie Duda—I’ve loved her way of portraying childhood for a long time. I also deeply connected with a series of drawings by Carla Rippey that I saw at the Alva de la Canal, in which she recreated photos from her childhood, which definitely inspired my watercolor series. What struck me most about her drawings was the nostalgia they evoked and the sense of mystery they convey.