Becoming
2024-Present
Becoming is an ongoing body of work that explores identity, memory, and transformation through ritualized portraiture. Each piece acts as both altar and archive, where watercolor functions as part of the ritual and merges with other media to uncover buried layers of memory and feeling. The recurring motifs throughout the series form a coded language that speaks to the thresholds between self and ancestry, mourning and joy, fragmentation and wholeness. Each portrait becomes a vessel of commemoration and preservation.
As a multidisciplinary exploration rooted in ritualized portraiture, the series resists closure. Each work invites new methods and materials that expand the practice beyond the painted surface into sculptural, hand-crafted, and communal forms. In this way, this body of work is not a fixed collection but a living process. A practice of memorializing, excavating, and reimagining the stories and people that shape us. Becoming is a recognition that identity is never fixed, but always unfolding.
“Becoming myself has meant returning to the memories and stories, both tender and painful, that live within me. Each creation becomes an altar; An offering of devotion and forgiveness, a way of facing life’s tragedies and untold stories, and a quiet act of love for the self, the people, and the moments, both real and imagined, that have shaped my becoming.” - EM.O
La Ancestra (2025) 18inx24in Watercolor, gold leaf and mixed media on cold press paper La Ancestra explores lineage in our growth and becoming. The braid functions as both spine and tree trunk, wrapped in a traditional styled Cinta. This Cinta tells a story of the cosmic connection between generations of women, both living and dead, merging the physical with the spiritual. This works honors a woman who has come before me, Zoila Emelia Orellana-Estrada, and how the threads of her being link to my own becoming. Te extraño cada día, abuela
Recuerdo .Remember (2025) 12in x 16in Watercolor, gouache, color pencil, and gold leaf Cold Press Paper ... Through its use of cultural and symbolic language, this portrait bridges the personal and the ancestral. It stands as altar and archive, holding memory in a space where past and present meet. Within the Becoming series, Recuerda emphasizes remembrance as a cultural practice of preservation and storytelling.
Untitled Design (Design & Textile Study, 2025) ... This graphic design emerged as an extension of the portrait Recuerda, transforming its symbolic language into a larger geometric and textile-inspired form. As part of Becoming, the work demonstrates how each portrait can generate new methods and mediums, expanding beyond paint into design and future woven possibilities. It functions as both sketch and archive, preserving memory through abstraction while pointing toward what is still unfolding.
Florece .Blooms (2024) 12in x 16in Watercolor and gold leaf Cold Press Paper .... This split self-portrait embodies the unfolding nature of Becoming, where identity is both fragmented and whole. As both altar and archive, Florece preserves the act of growth as a ritual of transformation.