Arleene Correa Valencia is a native Mexican artist from Arteaga, Michoacan, Mexico who currently lives and works in Napa, California. She received an MFA from California College of the Arts and is a recipient of a regional Emmy award for her feature REPRESENT: Portraits of Napa Workers: Arleene Correa Valencia by KQED Arts. Correa Valencia is represented by Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.
This work revives text found in an archive of family letters authored in 1996, when the Correa-Valencia family fought furiously to maintain unity, and dreamed of reunification. Hand-embroidered textiles and painted murals decorate a ruin inviting viewers to explore the complexities of migration from the perspective of a three-year old child, whose innocence is highlighted in drawings and text that reads “I feel so alone. I don’t forget about you.” These messages, rooted in the shared human desire to love and be loved, offer an intimate view into the individual and collective experience of family migration, separation, and the understanding of migration as hope, sacrifice, trauma, and joy.
Contact
@arleenecorreavalencia