About Rafaela Luna
Rafaela Luna Art Statement
My art addresses social tensions, emphasizing racial and gender differences. My work depicts images of female figures. Likewise, the composition alludes to the stress caused by the opposition between conventionalism and the forced masks imposed by traditional stereotypes.
I consciously observe how people perceive each other. My artistic practice explores the segmentation that divides society through the concepts based on characteristics of race, ethnicity, gender or simply physical appearance. I seek to make evident the different types of stereotypes through the images, forcing the viewer to become aware of misconceptions that they might have and the roots of stereotypes in a particular environment.
Shortly after moving to New York City from the Dominican Republic, and as NYC being so diverse, I got involved with people from different countries, I realize the great differences that they experience on a daily basis, related to the biases that persist in ideological constructs, and I began to represent it in my work by female figures of different ethnicities.
At the same time I think that storytelling and memory play a huge role in the conception of my work. From my childhood memories I am able to construct my discourse through images that are present in the culture that I grew up in. All the iconography- patterns- colors to which I was exposed to are making their way back to my canvas. Moreover my own bilingualism has forced me to look within, to be more careful in my expressions and therefore to be more meticulous in my artistic practice.
