Edith Mendez
We are pleased to introduce local artist Edith Mendez, represented in the Community Art Collection housed at Berwyn's Baird & Warner office. Edith learned about rasquache at an early age and continues to draw from this practice today. Rasquache, in artmaking, is taking advantage of materials and things one has already on hand and not requiring the purchase of traditional art supplies; other terms that can describe this practice are assemblage or found objects. For those new to this term, scholar and art critic Tomás Ybarra-Frausto simplifies it as “you make do with what you have.”
“My work focuses on exploring the fluidity of self and memories — how I perceive my family’s roots, traditions, and motherland — and its effect on my identity.”
Edith takes a methodical approach to exploring her own identity by drawing from memories and Mexican culture. She visually articulates joy, tradition, place, celebration, and time through digital drawings, photographic collages, installations, mixed media sculpture work, and soundscapes paired with photographs. Her work effortlessly puts viewers in a dreamlike state as she stirs memories with rich cultural references to honor and celebrate where she came from. We invite you to take a closer look at her work and art practice by visiting her website and seeing her work in person at the Baird & Warner office!
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Artist Q&A
A conversation between Michelle Ruiz and Edith Mendez
Michelle Ruiz: Briefly describe your background and what led you to the arts.
Edith Mendez: Growing up, my sisters and I would work on a lot of different crafts with my mom. Drawing, painting, and making rasquache art was what we did in the summer together instead of signing up for sports or camp because it was what our family could afford. Being creative was something my mom nurtured, and once I went to college and took a formal fine arts class, I realized that I wanted it to be more than a pastime; Artmaking was my way of meditating or journaling and how I best expressed myself.
MR: I love that you employ various mediums in your practice. Some include painting, digital collage, sculpture, mixed media, and drawing. At present, what materials are you most excited about and why?
EM: It all goes back to rasquache art growing up. Being surrounded by various materials and having the space to experiment made a huge impact on the way I create art today. Even though I now have access to and can afford materials, being thoughtful about the medium choices I make and incorporating some Rasquachismo element into my work makes it all the more nostalgic and familiar. Cardboard is probably the material I’m most excited about because there’s so much you can do with it, and it’s cheap!
MR: Can you share the overarching themes in your work and your favorite ways to explore those themes in your everyday life?
EM: The overarching theme in my work is identity. Whether a piece is focused on my past experiences and memories or what’s currently happening in my life, my work represents my inner thoughts at the time in relation to who I am or why I am. Within identity are feminism and gender roles in the Latinx community. It’s something I’ve been thinking more about recently as a new mom. The decisions I make in relation to my career, how I choose to raise my son, and the kind of mom I want to be are all ways that I’m currently exploring Latinx feminism within the Identity umbrella.
MR: We currently feature two works of yours in the art collection titled Torito/Traditions (Digital image on photo paper) and A Made Up Space (Digital Collage on photo paper). I love the contrast and execution of these two pieces. Can you tell us more about these works?
EM: ‘Torito/Traditions’ is one of the more recent works relating to my identity as a parent. At the time, I was thinking about what traditions I wanted to continue practicing, what I wanted to change, and what new traditions could my partner and I create for our family. This piece is an homage to the ‘carnaval’ that takes place every year in my parents’ hometowns, Copandaro de Galeana and Arúmbaro, Michoacán, Mexico. It reminds me of my grandparents’ home, summers in Mexico, and my parents; It’s a place I want my son to experience and continue being tied to.
‘A Made Up Space’ highlights the idea of fabricated memories and experiences. This piece is one of four collaged landscapes I created back in 2019, and it really represents the chaos or distorted memories I have of my time in Mexico. I hadn’t visited in 5 years, so I created my own story out of the bits and pieces I remembered. While making this piece, I asked myself: What places did I visit? Who was there? How can I represent the excitement of those memories or places in one image? How can I create a physical representation of a constructed memory?
MR: How do you go about sourcing materials within your collage works?
EM: Most of my collage work materials are from photographs I’ve taken or photographs my family has taken, both digital and physical copies.
MR: What projects or bodies of work are you working on or expanding now?
EM: I want to focus on my identity through Latinx, feminist motherhood. The experiences, feelings, and thoughts while being a mom are difficult to physically represent, but they’re powerful, and important to break apart and expand on because of the way they’ve changed me.
We have included Edith’s email address below for inquiries. We encourage anyone wishing to see her work and upcoming projects to follow her on Instagram.
Edith Mendez
IG: @chicana_arte98
Website: mendezedith13.wixsite.com/website
Email: mendezedith13@gmail.com
Click here for the catalog to view the Community Art Collection currently on display at Baird & Warner.