“Ana Hernandez’s drawing and painting practice often explores language. Specifically, she examines the ways in which language functions as a tool that facilitates communication but is also employed as a rhetorical device that can engender oppression and discrimination. Recent works by the artist have employed the use of Braille, exploring its linguistic and textural properties that evoke the sense of touch while delving into an exploration of pattern and form, and its challenge to the primacy of other forms of writing.
Hernandez has produced a series of mixed media collages that incorporate Braille, and illustrates the ways in which language is both a signifier of ability and is used as an apparatus that can reinforce beliefs about cultural identity. Touching on the ways in which the educational system has contributed to the erasure of various forms of cultural identity through a historical insistence on the use of English as the language of instruction, how the terms used to denote racialized neighborhoods is frequently coded in pejorative terms as a form of linguistic redlining, Hernandez has identified the insidious ways that language has been used to create and enforce barriers and boundaries that adversely affect communities of color within the United States. At the same time, the artist illustrates how language functions as a form of subterfuge that can be used to sustain and fortify marginalized groups.” -Sally Frater
green, 2018
Mixed media collage on handmade paper
36" x 40” x 1”
blue, 2018
Mixed media collage on handmade paper
36" x 40” x 1”
yellow, 2018
Mixed media collage on handmade paper
36" x 40” x 1”
red, 2018
Mixed media collage on handmade paper
36" x 40” x 1”