Saturday, March 28, 2009

Who's Who: angeL Gonzales

Rounding up the Who's Who series before the big show tonight, here's AngeL gonzales...Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

State the facts: Name, Age, Hometown
AngeL gonzales, 35, Texas

What's your genre and where did you pick up your art?
Fine Arts - The School of Visual Arts, NYC

Tell us something about yourself...
A majority of my installations focus on the topic of immigration.  I have been doing research in the southwest, mostly in Arizona, visiting communities and organizations that focus on the dangers of traveling through the desert in search of the "American Dream". 

If you have to pick one of your best works, what would it be?
Three other works that stand out in my mind would be,


"no turning back" (2007),


"dancing rabbit" (2008),


"red wire" (2007). 

If you could send help to anything, anyone, anytime, anywhere. what would it be?
During my visit to Arizona, I learned of an organization called "Samaritans."  These are people who drive in the open desert and look for lost immigrants that are left behind by the "Coyotes" - which are supposed to be leading all immigrants into the United States.  They usually travel in groups of about 30-60 people and only travel at night to avoid being seen by the Border Patrol.  These groups are mixed with people of all ages and are not equipped to hike in the rough desert terrain.  They are lead through the darkness by a long rope that they must hold on to in order to not get lost.  The "Coyotes" move fast, so the elderly and the young almost always fall behind and are left to find there way in the night.  I feel its my duty to "send help" to the people who fall behind by creating this installation.  I hope to educate people of the tragedies happening everyday in our country. 

Check out AngeL's works

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