Making is a way of thinking.

Testimonials

“An artist, cultural strategist, and scholar, Álvaro embodies civic life in the 21st century, our complex histories that shape us, and the possibility of a more just future. Their work is unabashedly human centered, using tools, processes, and strategies, to push the boundaries of traditional modalities into powerful prompts for discourse and social change.”

— Danielle Brazell, Executive Director, California Arts Council

“Álvaro brings a multifaceted perspective as both an artist and arts administrator, which deepens their empathy, insight, organization, and impact in both roles. As a celebrated multi-disciplinary artist, Álvaro is inquisitive, experimental, and collaborative. Their talents for building useful structures with multiple entry points and outcomes with the work of arts administration lend themselves to the type of perspectives that our field needs more of.”

— Evonne Gallardo, Senior Program Director, Community Partners

“I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with Álvaro through work connected with the Social Practice Artist Residency program, where their approach consistently centered artists as civic actors and strengthened meaningful community partnerships. Their practice brings a clear ability to translate complex social practice frameworks into actionable strategies that support both organizations and individual artists.”

— Michael Ano, Deputy Director of Artistic Programs, 18th Street Art Center

Philosophy

Art as Social Inquiry.

My interdisciplinary art practice interrogates the long history of displacement in the Americas, starting with Indigenous dispossession and genocide to current issues around gentrification, evictions, and homelessness. At its root, however, it is a critical reflection on the commodification of land as private property and the issues that arise out of this. I articulate these subjects through printmaking, installation, mixed media, and sculpture, to outline the contested use of space and the ways that social and political policies have shaped our contemporary urban environment. I am particularly interested in creating work that exists in the intersections between theory and praxis, articulating a visual form of knowledge production.

I am originally from the working-class migrant community of East Salinas, in California’s Central Coast, where I grew up until I graduated from high school. I come from three generations of migrant farm workers, and my upbringing in this community informs my work as a Xicanx artist, researcher, and advocate in substantive ways. I am currently based in Los Angeles, CA, where I have lived and worked since 2008.