![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/078723bd-79a5-4659-9885-c915d953c050/0/0/0/0,0,3643,2429,3643,1200/0-0-0/b68ba054-84a0-4261-854c-d624a196e3af/1/1/redpowerranger_install-6-2.jpg?fjkss=exp=2040649156~hmac=7579823382648214db22f0bfaa8ffb8142155b2b5a8ad83154969e7eb7464cd9)
Ode to My Thirteen-Year-Old Self (Installation View)
Backspace Gallery
2021
Ode to My Thirteen-Year-Old Self (2021) is an installation consisting of a standalone video piece and two CMYK serigraphs from F**k the Ones I Envy. Both of these collections explore the feelings I had as a young closeted teenager who felt shame for knowing I was gay but tried very hard to repress it.
The two serigraphs, The Boy I Want (...to be) [left of video] and Thinking of You [right of video], speak to my idealization of the all-American by next door aesthetic that was plastered all over the visual media I was viewing growing up. As an latinx, immigrant I knew I could never achieve this appearance but still tried everything I could to achieve it so I could eventually be wanted by someone that looked like that.
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/078723bd-79a5-4659-9885-c915d953c050/0/0/0/0,0,2429,3643,1600,3643/0-0-0/1058a77f-4688-45a9-9acb-84b6ebf88d2c/1/1/redpowerranger_install-7.jpg?fjkss=exp=2040649156~hmac=4fb103b1aa8915d540492e42b253a9063b212b1eb43d8a9b1214f7f272e4bc74)
The Boy I Want (...to be)
CMYK serigraph, inkjet hand-fed text
2021
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/078723bd-79a5-4659-9885-c915d953c050/0/0/0/0,0,2429,3643,1600,3643/0-0-0/e619ec35-e1c1-4151-8689-057847b8d8a5/1/1/redpowerranger_install-8.jpg?fjkss=exp=2040649156~hmac=4fb103b1aa8915d540492e42b253a9063b212b1eb43d8a9b1214f7f272e4bc74)
The Red Power Ranger Made Me Gay
Single-channel video, archive footage, pink house paint, charcoal
2021
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/078723bd-79a5-4659-9885-c915d953c050/0/0/0/0,0,2429,3643,1600,3643/0-0-0/58ee13ab-a88a-4c40-a286-9099c3fa3ba8/1/1/redpowerranger_install-9.jpg?fjkss=exp=2040649156~hmac=4fb103b1aa8915d540492e42b253a9063b212b1eb43d8a9b1214f7f272e4bc74)
Thinking of You
CMYK serigraph, inkjet hand-fed text
2021