Lorena Ochoa '20

"Se Busca," an exhibition of works by Lorena Ochoa '20, opened this month at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, California.

Running through Nov. 12, "Se Busca," according to the gallery's press release, "focuses on the intersection of memory and transport. Memory as in generational trauma, indigeneity, Purépecha ancestry, and how these memories from blood and dirt are transported through migration. The series considers migration as an analogous phenomenon, viewing the movement of the artist's mother from Michoacán to Santa Ana, the course of the Santa Ana River into the Pacific Ocean, the convergence of oceanic currents with rivers in Michoacán, and the construction of concrete freeways for redlining, all as synonymous. In the way that Robert Rauschenberg’s SE Erased De Kooning Drawing (1953) questioned whether the paper, the pencil markings, the eraser tracings, or the memory are the artwork, these works rebel against the definition of art object and artwork while critiquing the hierarchical methods of labor and gender norms.

"The works seem to be in motion although tightly bound to the structures that keep them stagnant. The use of line offers cohesion and criticality while the various light sources reminisce of liquor stores, construction sites, and neighborhood walks at dusk. The works search for a sort of understanding while each reproduction paradoxically distances the artist. Each work aims to instill agency and resist the violent silencing of marginalized communities that are formed by the streets both literally and metaphorically."

Ochoa, born in Santa Ana, earned a B.A. in art with a minor in Chicana/o Studies at UCLA and an M.F.A. at UC San Diego. Ochoa has been awarded the Cota Robles Fellowship, the Oceanids Fellowship, UCLA Undergraduate Award in 2018 and 2019, the Hoyt Memorial Scholarship, the Weissman Travel Fund and the Michael Coomes Memorial Award. Ochoa was also an Artist in Residence at the Guapamacataro Hacienda in Michoacan in 2022.