Teresa Flores Explores Her Chicanx Roots Through Dance
Her recent work came out of rearranging her living space during the pandemic’s stay-at-home orders.
Teresa Flores, ’13 MFA Public Practice
Since quarantine began I’ve rearranged my living room to open up space for making art, making money, educating myself, and building up my health. My small space shifts between art studio, yoga studio, video production house, educational space, napping place, and dance floor. Having the ability to practice and produce in my home leaves me with only my internal resistance.
On a solid day, I examine the source of my own resistance and challenge myself to use the physical space to break through. Very often I have connected the dots leading back to colonization and assimilation within myself and my family’s culture, and I am compelled to examine them in my work.
Got It From My Mama is a day in the life of a Chicana practicing the Latin dances she was never taught. My focus drifts between the screen and my body. It’s an exercise in teaching the body to remember without mirrors to reflect and build a muscular memory. It’s a reflection of the diasporic relationship we all carry within us.
Flores’s works, Tortilla Burning and Rose Smith Gaytan, were featured in “Centennial: 100 Years of Otis College Alumni,” last year. Earlier this year she designed “TamaYoga: An Experiential Art” as part of LACMA’s exhibition, “Rufino Tamayo: Experimentation and Innovation.” For more information, please visit TeresaFloresStudio.com and follow Flores on Instagram, @TereesaFloores.