"Taken all at once or piece by piece, Ferreira’s work coalesces into a study on identity formation, an investigation of gender, sexuality, race, and nation. In this unique moment in time in which old sociopolitical wounds resurface and new ones opened, Ferreira asks us to consider questions of ourselves and the systems of power that we inhabit."

Photo: Andrew Schwartz

Artist David Rios Ferreira makes references to monster movies from his childhood like Godzilla, representing disturbances in the urban landscape in this mural for the BRIC Café. Combined with cartoonish characters and hints of historical structures, the hybridity of this imagery becomes a metaphor for the process of cultural appropriation and reconstitution crucial to identity-making in our postcolonial society.

David Rios' path to winning the 2019 EdCom Award for Excellence in Practice was not the typical one for museum educators, which he sees as critical to the perspective he brings to his work.

BY JESSICA LANAY
This essay is published on the occasion of the ArtSlant Prize IX Winners Exhibition at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, March 6–12, 2018. David Rios Ferreira is the ArtSlant Prize IX Grand Prize winner.

Image:
Carnal Knowing
2018
Gouache, screen printing ink, and collage on Mylar
56 X 82 inches

He can call me Flower, If he wants to is digital drawing collage that is a perpetual work-in-progress. You are invited to pan through this seemingly infinite drawing and encounter compositions and video pieces.