Artists Share their Creativity at SVACE
Jessica Elena Aquino, Cactus of Jessie, 2025, Frame loom weaving, indigo and cochineal-dyed yarn; synthetic yarn, clothespins, beads, screenprint on silk habotai and silk organza, sewing thread, embroidery on letterpress satin ribbon, 36 x 60 x 11.5 inches.
Jessica Elena Aquino, The pain they felt as the roots of their soul pulled away and severed themselves from Earth, 2021 Frame loom woven, yarn, bedsheets, 40 x 30 inches.
Artist Statement:
Jessica Elena Aquino (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist working in weaving, printmaking, sculpture, and installation to explore themes of migration, relationship to land, and ancestral knowledge. As a first-generation Mexican American and grandchild of basket weavers, Aquino is influenced by the oral histories of my family’s arrival in the U.S. from Mexico and their Catholic upbringing. They transform found objects, family photographs, and cornhusks into personal relics and mementos. Aquino's process involves breaking and reassembling these materials to mirror the fragmented nature of memory, creating abstract forms of memoir, portraiture, and nonlinear storytelling.
As a child of immigrants, Aquino inhabits in-between worlds and identities, forging their own mythologies and archives that blur the lines between reality and imagination, while honoring and celebrating their roots and navigating her place within shifting cultural landscapes of belonging.
Bio:
Jessica Elena Aquino is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and horticulturist from Santa Ana, California, currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a B.A. from Colgate University and an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (VA), Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (MI), Creative Alliance (MD), Anna Zorina Gallery (NYC), and NARS Foundation (NYC).
Alongside her studio practice, she has worked in arts education and horticulture at institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, PAFA, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Website: www.aquinoje.com | @aquino.je Course: Portrait painting | FIC-2237-A
