"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.