Artist in Conversation: Daisy Quezada Ureña: Quihica

Daisy Quezada Ureña in conversation with writer Alicia Inez Guzman, PhD, and Carolyn Kastner, PhD, curator emerita of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

Daisy Quezada Ureña’s latest exhibition, ‘Quihica, explores themes of identity, memory, and transformation through personal garments transformed into ceramic sculptures. Drawing on her Mexican and American heritage, the work reflects on gender, class, and societal constraints. Inspired by the term ‘quihica’, which refers to sacrificial victims in ancient Bogotá, the exhibition examines the shedding of old identities and the pressures that shape who we become. Each garment serves as a deeply personal portrait, connecting artist and viewer through the intimate medium of clothing.

Daisy Quezada Ureña is a multidisciplinary artist, a faculty and and Associate Academic Dean at the Institution of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Within her practice, she creates ceramic works, installations, and artist’s books that thematically connect to ideas around identity and place in relation to social structures that cross imposed borders. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at: The Denver Art Museum (Denver,Colorado), Summerhall (Edinburg, Scotland), New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum (New Taipei Taiwan), and Icheon Ceramics Festival (Icheon South Korea). As an extension of her practice Quezada Ureña has also worked alongside non-for-profit organization like El Otro Lado/The Other Side and Downtown Aurora Visual Arts that impact community at a local level by bring art to youth. Quezada Ureña was named one of 15 Latinx Artist Fellows for 2023 by the US Latinx Art Forum.

Image: Daisy Quezada Ureña (photo Clayton Porter)