SE BUSCA 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. It views migration, such as the migration of the artists mother from Michoacan to Santa Ana, the Santa Ana River’s path into the Pacific Ocean and oceanic currents combining with the mouths of rivers in Michoacan, and concrete freeways used for redlining all as synonymous. In the way that Robert Rauschenberg’s 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 literally and metaphorically.
Lorena Ochoa (b. Santa Ana) received their BA in Visual Arts with a minor in Chicana/o Studies at the University of California Los Angeles and received their MFA at University of California 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. Lorena Ochoa was also an Artist in Residence at the Guapamacataro Hacienda in Michoacan in 2022.
Curated by Savannah Lee, GCAC Curatorial Associate / Public Programs Coordinator
