Gabriela Gutierrez
To grow is to understand perspectives outside of your own and embrace healing. My work as an artist directly relates to my growth and experiences as a daughter, an immigrant, a person, and the different layers that constitute my identity. My painting practices focus on my path of reconnection with my mother and creating a conversation about parenthood and adulthood. I play a lot with ideas of transparency and layering, which pertain not only to the materials, but also to the overall mood of the pieces. The use of fabric and fibers allows me to connect with the idea of intertwined realities.
My series Daughterhood focuses on empathy, womanhood, and forgiveness. I use personal figures such as myself, my mom, and my sister to acknowledge my point of view on womanhood and parenthood. The metaphor that follows this series relies on a personal experience of having my hair completely cut off by my mom when I was 13 and my struggle to see past my anger and hurt to acknowledge her point of view. My art allows me to look with perspective and validate my mom’s struggles as she finds herself in a path of self-discovery as well.
About the Artist
Gabriela Gutierrez is a multimedia artist born in Bolivia. She migrated to the US at the age of 15 and currently lives in Virginia. She earned her associate of fine arts degree from NOVA and her BFA and master’s degree in art teaching, with a concentration in studio arts, at George Mason University’s School of Art. Making art is the voice she uses to address her experience as an immigrant and connect with her community in her path of self-discovery, and she hopes to inspire and cultivate a love for art in her future students. She has exhibited her work at the Annandale NOVA Campus 2022 Student Art Exhibition and at the Marymount University Horizons Juried Art + Design Exhibition.
The Portrait of a Mother
2022
Oil and Fabric on Canvas
24 x 32 inches