Diana Rojas explores the hidden and invisible through interdisciplinary collaboration and conversation across fields such as Philosophy, Music Composition, Physics, Material Science and Visual Art. The tools and environments she creates - by utilizing the archaic and contemporary, the digital and sculptural, known and unknown, and the minute and immersive -culminate in experiential works that prompt viewers to slow down and inspire introspection. The slowing down that these works provoke raises questions about existence, reality and being. By combining materials and elements of theories and devices of exploration, she references their antecedents, but creates new opportunities for viewer investigation. This includes utilizing creative coding, video, 3D modeling, welding steel, kiln forming and soldering glass, and cutilizing sand as projection screens. Additionally, she utilizes sound and light to create captivating installations, inspired by interest in the influence that immaterial forces have on human minds and decisions.

Titled after a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, From Every Depth of Good and Ill, is an exhibition composed of vignettes created with ceramic sculpture, ephemeral installation works, and printmaking. The work primarily references domesticity and antiquated subjects to illustrate the process of coping with past trauma and the resultant feelings of shame, inadequacy, and incompleteness. Marked by a palette of warm rust and sepia, aged patterning, and worn textures, the tableau of objects presented within the space mimic old familial photographs. Each resulting work serves as a dirty looking-glass for the viewer to peer through.

My work explores my identity as a Latino, veteran, and father, and counteracts the lack of positive representation of men of color in society. While they are similar to traditional piñatas in their design and construction, my sculptures are based on abstract representations of my internalized identity. These anthropomorphic forms stand rather than being hung, enacting ownership over their space. This allows them to take on a newly assigned identity and presence. These forms allow me to display, articulate, and communicate. the struggles I have experienced throughout my life because of systemic oppression.

Rainbows, Stones and Ghosts is a two-part exhibition of multi-dimensional drawings about the almost and the not-yet-made. My Project-in-Lieu-of Thesis exists physically as a series of oil paintings, works on paper, and a site-specific sculptural installation. With recurring imagery of rainbows, stones, and construction debris, the works reimagine their subjects as icons and objects of potential. Highlighting time, labor, and material, my project questions the creation of value, status, and the concept of the ‘ideal’. My drawings dissolve the boundary between the absence and presence by continuously breaking down, expanding, and reimagining their surfaces, subjects, and sites. Rainbows, Stones and Ghosts is an invitation to navigate the ‘almost’ as an immersive space of possibility.

My ceramics are composed of two bodies of work poised against one another, one rendered in porcelain and colored inclusion stains combined in processes rooted within the practices of laminating clay, and the other made of brutal metallic black stoneware. The first are made of landscapes and abstractly depict them, while the latter represent ways in which we consume oil literally and metaphorically. Within myself are conflicting desires for convenient access to my environment and the loss of biodiversity caused by my unsustainable use of it. This is the core of the conflict between my pieces and my intention in making work is to embody my relationship with nature as influenced by my familial context in the US. All of the vessels are designed to be functional, but to serve used motor oil instead of food or drink. If the purpose of the objects is to represent my relationship with nature and the iteration of days, then the performance of them is meant to invoke the recognition of multiform oil consumption and the effect it has on my life.

My ceramic works utilize a heightened sensory perception to encourage a prolonged engagement with the handcrafted objects. With an emphasis on repetition, I create individual rings from clay coils and interlink them in complex, radial configurations to produce a malleable, geometric network designed to respond to the user's movements. The work revolves around dichotomies: hard/soft, delicate/strong, inspired by clay's chemical alterations in the firing. Each malleable pattern preserves the fluid movement the pliable clay begins with. Overall, the abundance of ornament elevates the object, transforming an everyday object into something intended for special occasions or moments for the self.

My work as an American artist (Korean diaspora) reflects the interplay of diverse cultures and locations that have shaped my experiences. Through the exploration of photo and video archives from my travels, I uncover patterns and images that symbolize both place and transition. Utilizing digital technology, I fragment and reconstruct visual elements, evoking a sense of longing and disconnection. I also investigate the relationship between the body and space, using multi-modal responses. My work aims to capture dualities and stimulate contemplative meditation through the juxtaposition of tangible and intangible, clear and hazy, large and small, and intimate and distant elements.

This research project studies ways that space shapes identity by examining a contemporary sculpture using a multicultural theory. The author focuses on analyzing the role of physical space in the construction of cultural identity across time by studying Mariana Castillo-Deball’s No Solid Form Can Contain You (2010) through Gloria Anzaldua’s Nepantilism theory.

Brief Artist Statement by Lara Asam as part of a 2021 MFA Exhibition, entitled "Thresholds” in the Cora Stafford Gallery on the campus of the University of North Texas on April 12-22, 2021.

My artistic practice centers around personal history, connection, and identity. I reflect on my experience as a Nigerian who has lived on three continents thus far, and how those experiences have led to the deconstruction, reassembly, and hybridization of my identity. My work pays homage to my tribe of origin, Yoruba, whilst redefining and exploring the hybridity that exists as a result of cross-cultural influences that are prominent in our world today. I incorporate varying objects and materials such as jewelry, sculpture, wood, metal, and fiber. This integration speaks to the multicultural existence of the world I live in the interrelationship between Nigeria and the West.

OK to Play is an exhibition that explores the development of communication skills through objects and imagery related to play. Invented symbols inspired by English and Japanese letters along with animal characters form the basis of two- and three-dimensional artwork that conveys the joys and struggles of connecting with other people. I made toy-like sculptures from a variety of materials such as wood, fibers, and resin. Viewers are invited to handle the sculptures and explore their textures and sounds. My work aims to provide an environment that encourages viewers to play with the art and other people.

Cuídate /Take Care of Yourself is an exhibition that explores domestic objects and girlhood memories are translated through iterative printmaking, collage, and slip-casting processes. A narrative of uncanny disparate objects and illustrated bodies interact. Making visible the hidden realities, lost dreams, and traumas of navigating traditional womanhood. Through symbolism and allegory, each quietly confronts the repetitive, deeply rooted, and openly hidden sexist values prevalent in Norteño culture. I often recall my mother's expressions and colloquialisms as inspiration. This set of colloquialisms and illustrative representations of girlhood trauma in my work exemplifies an exchange of values and the divided relationship they create between immigrant mothers and their Americanized daughters

The Elsewhere in Everything presents paintings exploring a hidden realm beyond ordinary perception. Through bold colors and abstraction, these paintings depict elusive experiences, aiming to capture transcendent moments. The scale varies, with smaller pieces representing fleeting moments and larger works inviting viewers into fictional realms, timelines, and forms. My process involves loose drawing, washes of color, and intuitive color application, reflecting personal experiences. Influenced by spirituality and ideas surrounding Eastern aesthetics, I bridge tangible and intangible worlds. The Philosophy of 'Ki' informs my belief in interconnectedness, and partnered with a background in dance, greatly informed the exhibition's installation. Likewise, 'Yūgen' philosophy inspires capturing elusive beauty in subtle moments and reflecting the many parts that compose our narrow concept of the “whole.” My work embodies determinable indeterminateness, inviting viewers to navigate familiar yet intangible spaces that can expand upon our known realities. It's not escapism but rather a celebration of magic in mundane moments, inviting contemplation of the infinite

Home, Do You Remember Me, Home explores the quiet complexity of an emerging sense of self in relation to the effects of time and space. The works record the shifting intimate spaces and the social and cultural environments as the artist, Chenxi Gao, moved from one home to another, from rural to urban, and from China to the U.S. Gao layers and manipulates materials to discover dualities: concealing versus revealing, safety versus restriction… The works echo her thoughts: Where do I come from? What to do with my memories? Where am I going? They ask questions without providing the answers.

Lure is an exploration of light, color, and space through an understanding of plique-à-jour and textile techniques. Textile techniques are combined with metal and enamel to create dynamic forms that reference the natural world without mimicking any organism specifically. The forms of my jewelry pieces are influenced by carnivorous plants which, unlike other plants, lure living prey through nectar and utilize intense coloration to mimic flowers. My collection of jewelry, like the colors and patterns of the carnivorous plant, aims to lure people closer. Colorful reflections and small details invite people to explore my work.

Prayer Room – “ पूजा कोठा” is an exhibition that explores the realms of self-awareness of being through my dual identities Buddhist and Nepali. Through a sequence of print compositions enveloping an immersive installation, I delve into the interconnected themes of time, transformation, and consciousness, all experienced through the senses. This exhibition aims to create an environment where one is invited to become aware of the present moment through the senses and find a profound sense of quiet and freedom. The exhibition will have a two series of monoprints, a series of painted panels, and a central installation of suspended fabric banners in the center of the gallery. The exhibition invites contemplation on the intersection of identity and sensory perception.

The Distance Between is a collection of works installed as a temple of cicadas with the culmination of pieces enshrining the cycle of their annual emergence and disappearance. This exhibition utilizes the design elements of a Gothic cathedral to create a theoretical religion based on the cicada’s lifecycle. Cicadas are cast in an array of forms in glass and bronze utilizing the intrinsic qualities of the materials in conjunction with their historical use. This work is a romanticized solution of presenting the environment as a place of worship to create individual dialogues around the care for ecology.

The Agency of Water is an exhibition that explores the agency of water. I perceive water as a moving, living organism. Evidence of water’s agency can be seen in carved out underground caves, natural levees created by sediment depositions, and wind-driven flow. Through the lens of Post-Humanism and a decentered Anthropocene, I intend to explore the interconnected relationships between water, wind, and soil. Recognizing the agential capacities of these elements as a collaborator in my work decentralizes humans’ sovereignty as a singular actor in a world wherein nature shapes itself alongside human existence. This body of work reflects conversations between nature, myself, and the environment.

Parapolitical Aesthetics is a working critique of the sociopolitical and socioeconomic apparatuses, hierarchies, and in-flux mechanisms of lived neoliberal reality. Focusing on the “politicality of apoliticality”, molar and molecular forms of fascism as presented by Deleuze and Guattari, and in full recognition of Fisher’s “cancelled future”, my artistic praxis manifests in varying mediums ranging from traditional photography, installation sculpture, video-based new media, and painting. This inherently political and hypersocial form of working is intended to challenge the sociopolitical axiomatics of traditional art practices, emphasizes the domination and proliferation of screen-based media, and critiques the strategies of parapolitical power, which all synthesize and shape our shared domination.

I Love You and I Love Rules is exhibition that uses intermedia processes to convey humor that explores themes of self-inspection, our presence in the spaces we inhabit, and suburban sublimation. By poking fun at accepted cultural and artistic standards, I question the purpose of art and celebrate small moments of joy and intimacy. Through art, I acknowledge the little things that bring us comfort regardless of practicality and strive to make active decisions to push against social expectations by participating in joy and fun as an act of resistance. I aim to create art that reflects my feelings and thoughts while being approachable, enjoyable, and engaging for everyone a working critique of the sociopolitical and socioeconomic apparatuses, hierarchies, and in-flux mechanisms of lived neoliberal reality. Focusing on the “politicality of apoliticality”, molar and molecular forms of fascism as presented by Deleuze and Guattari, and in full recognition of Fisher’s “cancelled future”, my artistic praxis manifests in varying mediums ranging from traditional photography, installation sculpture, video-based new media, and painting. This inherently political and hypersocial form of working is intended to challenge the sociopolitical axiomatics of traditional art practices, emphasizes the domination and proliferation of screen-based media, and critiques the …

Artist's statement from MFA Exhibition: "I draw inspiration from natural environments to create jewelry. Each piece is inspired by a particular environment, often a region of the ocean, and I use the colors, forms, and features of that environment. This imagery is translated through the process of making which may include hammer forming, enameling, patination and the use of textile techniques in metal. I incorporate a loose narrative that ties the jewelry together as a body of work and connects it to the environments that inspired it. The resulting wearables draw viewers into a greater appreciation for the beauty and wonder of the ocean."

The Visceral Comedy is a collection of figurative paintings pulled from varying forms of literature, each with their own histories and associations. They investigate queer identity by exploring the relationship between religion, mythology, gender, and sexuality by translating historical symbols and narratives. I reconstruct an animal’s symbolism through my own lens as a Southern Femme in the United States. I desire my audience to strongly empathize with my characters so they can experience catharsis and transformation within these escapist landscapes polluted by human intervention and absurdity. My paintings create a visceral experience and encourage criticism of the theologies fueling inhumane policy in our governing bodies.

Artist's Statement from the MFA Exhibition: "Enshrouded ecological ubiquities unveil persistent, muted presences existing in neglected spaces as ghostly survivors of anthropogenic impositions upon land. Cobwebs and their remnants of animals hide secret conspiracies of resurrection, conjured speciations, and resilience amid destruction: a space emblematic of Anthropocenic and girlhood survival that further serves as a locus for an intimate intercross yielding a resuscitation and becoming-with animals. Symbiotic collaborations tangle an exchange of a short life able to survive deeper into the Anthropocene with a longer life that cannot survive it, birthing an evolution and conversion into a new hereafter species."

Ōrāculumis a collection of photographic sculptures, suspended woven forms and photographic prints shown as an exhibition. Working with a Holga camera as my companion, I capture the past, present, and future possibilities of self. Pushing the use of motion blur and low lighting, dreamy environments are conjured with a heavy focus on the figure. Using the camera’s ability to create a connection between my internal world of emotion and my physical reality, representations of past and future possibilities are fabricated. Held present by woven structures, versions of myself are created and repaired, as I explore and accept my unresolved identity as a neurodivergent person. Oraculum offers viewers the opportunity to reflect on their past memories, current self and utilize them to craft a desired future.