Will Always Be Family

Will Always Be Family

Hernandez, Cici

I am a conceptual and installation artist, combining both painting and sculpture. I make interdisciplinary work including installation, sculpture, painting, and collage. My artistic practice includes image-layered with text, monochromatic realism, and mixed media pieces that explore texture and form. My focus is oil on canvas, in combination with other material explorations, including plaster, paper clay, and other mixed materials. The combination of materials invites my viewers into a narrative. Creating and making art is how I process the world: exploring the crossover of culture, identity, and personal/spiritual growth. Through my art, I explore themes of spirit, identity, and cultural memory. My works have been influenced by my African-American, Mexican, and Armenian heritage. Identity is a multifaceted concept, as well as the way we navigate cultural perspectives every day of our lives. I am interested in how experiences and memories overlap with one another. In my work, I combine text, symbolism, and narratives to express this overlap of memory and experience. Currently, I have dived into combining aspects of my identity with my religious beliefs, for example, connecting the Armenian culture of the Christian Orthodox church with the cultural tradition of Dias De Los Muertos. I am also completing a work focusing on the book of John and the fruit of the Spirit, as well as a sculpture depicting the power of African-American men and how they’re viewed within American society and American culture. My work is continuously searching connection between form and idea, to express different layers of memory and experience.

2026