Biography
Alan Serna is a mixed media artist from Huanusco, Zacatecas, MX. Currently, Serna’s work
deals with locational identity, digital migration mapping, and his experiences as a first generation immigrant.
Artist Statement
My work is an ongoing investigation of my cultural identity and the factors that have
influenced it. In traveling between Mexico, Texas, and Kentucky, I have become aware of the
concept of locational identity, specifically in terms of Mexicanidad and how my view of my own “Mexicanness” changes based on where I am living. I use a range of media to explore my
migration including sculpture, mixed media installation, photography, and printmaking.
Photographs have always been important to my work, at times functioning as reference
material and others as active elements in my work. My recent body of work utilizes photos
sourced from Google’s “Street View” application. This part of my process allows me an
opportunity to explore places where I have traveled in a way that exceeds the limitations of real time. The act of exploring and cataloging has provided me a new avenue of creation as well as a space to reflect on my previous experiences traveling through these regions.
“America Sin Fronteras” is a mixed media project that documents cities and towns along
an 800 mile stretch of the Texan and Mexican portion of the “NAFTA Corridor.” This stretch of highways is used as a distribution route for goods from Canada to the U.S. and from the U.S. to Mexico. It is also the route my family continues to use to travel from San Antonio, TX to our home in the state of Zacatecas, MX. The images I have collected along this route reflect the influence that American culture has on Mexico and vice versa. The numerous instances of cultural imitation and hybridity present along this route in my home town led me to reexamine my previously held notions of Mexicanidad in relation to cultural exchange.
Medium
Printmaking, Sculpture, Ephemera, Installation
