Intermix: traditional pre-Columbian art meets contemporary design

Cultural identity is something that impacts the individual, shaping and influencing them, during their lifetime journey. Each person chooses to embrace that identity differently. For my thesis, I investigated pre-Columbian culture and it’s rich history, specifically source visuals of faces as symbolic forms integrated into my visual study. Exploring: various media, elements that are expressive of national identity, image-making techniques, and my graphic design knowledge as vehicles in my work to uncover a different point of view of my own cultural heritage. The process of finding new graphic representations of traditional pre-Columbian faces, while deconstructing and reconstructing their structure and re-contextualizing into a unique contemporary visual vocabulary, was one of my main goals. This exploration helped me better understand those images that I have carried with me since I was a child, but mostly guided me in the right direction of sharing them with my audience which has never been exposed to pre-Columbian symbols and icons. As a graphic designer, I wanted to share the beauty and rich ethnic traits of my culture. I had a story to tell and I had an obligation and responsibility to tell that story through what I know best, graphic design. I believe that exploring our identity can help us communicate our unique individuality and can be used as a source of inspiration and national pride to tell a unique story. In addition, my goal was to not only challenge myself as an artist while developing an in-depth academic body of work