Art: “No Longer Silent and Submissive” Graciela Salinas-Ronquillo

Graciela Salinas-Ronquillo: Artist Statement

My name is Graciela Salinas-Ronquillo from Animo Venice High School, and I
created the art piece named No Longer Silent and Submissive. In the times we’re living in
now, every day, someone is being silenced and their voices executed. Their opinions were
snuffed out in the wind as though not to attract too much attention for the brutality to come
forth. You don’t need your heart to stop beating for you to die. Some may say having your
voice stripped away from you is worse than a thousand deaths, and it’s true. When you’re
kept quiet, you lose parts of yourself, as though your individuality is as common as water in
an ocean. What makes life worth living is being able to live it the way you feel is your sense of
truth.

So, the way I demonstrated that was by painting hands because when we think of
hurt and abuse, we think more physically. As though the harm you experience doesn’t matter
unless you’re physically injured, but that’s just not true. The obstacles we often face are
verbal abuse or stolen opportunities, so when you’re in pain, you feel a physical reaction in
your body. Feeling as if you’re being pulled back into the darkness. So, the hands that are
pulling the main arm are covered in bloody hand prints to signify all the people they killed, or
in other words, silenced. The ignorant always feel they should sully the people who stand out,
so they don’t feel inferior. Trying to make everyone ordinary and similar. But there’s always
that one person who doesn’t want to be quiet and submissive; they want to live freely with
everyone. However, it’s not easy fighting those demons alone. It’s a losing battle. So that’s
where the arm on top comes in. It’s like a beacon of hope and history. Although times are
tough, so many people before understood to speak out is to speak together. So the signs and
light are the way out of the darkness and into brighter, clearer skies. Speaking for those who
can’t is the foundation of freedom and resilience. The scars on both arms are different colors.
The white ones are healed by purity and kindness, while the black scars are what the bony
hands try to leave behind to scare them into submission.

In reality, everyone has scars in their heart from all sorts of people and situations,
and they’re not as complicated as emotions. They either got hurt and are healing or are
letting those scars deepen and then causing them to others. That’s where the chains come
into play, because chains are only fully binding when you fear them. They’re used in order to
gain control, but when you find that weak link, it’s only a matter of time before everything
crumbles. When you’re free from the shackles of fear and ill-willed people, you feel as though
everything gets just a little brighter and more colorful. So, the pretty sky has different kinds
of blue and hints of a strong, fiery red for power. It’s gentle but also fierce, showing
confidence in speaking out and being who you are.

In times such as now, when people of minority are being suppressed once again, I
hope to convey a sense of strength and resilience for all of the people that can’t. All the
barriers that keep us divided, I hope that our voices make it through the cracks and shatter
this wall of hatred and ignorance. Because to be ignorant is to be willfully blind, and we must
move into a new age where knowledge is sought after and admired by all.