Renya, Natalie

Natalie Reyna 

The Crowning 

16x20 

Multimedia 

$100

Bio: Hello, I'm Natalie. I come from a family full of Aztecs and when I found out an art competition would be based on my heritage, I gladly accepted to join. I always grew up drawing but recently I’ve been focusing more on incorporating my ethnicity into my artwork. I have a few pieces that represent Aztec culture and it is highlighted in this particular piece.  I enjoyed creating it because  the subject matter reminded me of where my family and I come from. In terms of media, I enjoy working with a wide variety, which is also visible in this piece.

Artist Statement: For this piece, “The Crowning,” I wanted to create an artwork that represented a right of passage, and when I think of rite of passage , I think of a new leader, stepping into the light, becoming the leader of a new tribe. I wanted to convey the idea of passing on a torch, however,  I chose to represent this with the passing of a crown. The figure is giving the crown to the next generation of new people and I find through this rite of passage. For this piece, I chose to make the background grayscale, while the people are in full color. I did this because I wanted them to pop out more than the background since they are the main subject of the piece. For the tattoo I added my dad’s tattoo since this piece reminds me of my family. I thought that adding his tattoo would be symbolic since he’s the reason I'm more in touch with my Aztec culture. I also kept the tattoo black and white to symbolize “the beginning”, moving forward to “coming in the light”.