Familiar Faces

Ugas’s glass sculpture blurs the line between mirror and mask. Here, the artist holds the work, alluding to the fact it once bore a close resemblance to his own face. However, the object is not designed only for Ugas. Instead, the artist views it as an invitation to any viewer to reflect upon oneself.

Thinking about our current moment, Ugas believes that many of our current socio-political issues stem from a widespread lack of self-awareness. He suggests that people might better understand the roots of their own beliefs if they had the time or space to sit and reflect on how they are informed by their identities, communities, and ancestries. By handling the Familiar Impressions sculpture, as Ugas does in this photograph, one can seize an opportunity for literal and metaphorical reflection.

This tangled web of fabric tendrils represents the ways in which overpowering thoughts can overtake not just one’s mind but also one’s body. To wear this sculpture is to be in service to it—it overcomes you, obscuring your vision and impacting your balance. You must use heightened awareness to navigate any space, or even sit down, while wearing it. The piece thus speaks to the ways in which our mental states impact both how we move through and perceive the world.

In Huerta Coello’s four-part series Fatiga Laboral (Labor Fatigue), found materials literally stand in for various fields of manual labor in a pair of worn work boots. The materials indicate the invisible figure’s job—here, a plumber is depicted via tall pipes. By surreally replacing a figure with a symbol of their occupation, Huerta Coello speaks to the fact that manual laborers’ daily lives and identities are often reduced to nothing more than their work.

Huerta Coello is based in the Bay Area but originally from Ecuador. He was inspired to create this series after living in the US for five years and observing the daily struggles of his fellow immigrant relatives. Many undocumented immigrants across the country work long hours at physically demanding jobs to make ends meet for their families. Although they work hard to forge a brighter future for themselves and their loved ones, because they are not US citizens, they are often unable to rise up within their companies or industries beyond these labor-intensive jobs. This invisible barrier—one that is difficult if not impossible to overcome in our current political moment--can cause additional stress and hardship. Fatiga Laboral thus explores how the emotional and physical exhaustion wrought by these circumstances impacts individuals, especially within the Latinx immigrant community.

Here we see a member of Ugas’s family holding his glass sculptural work. Before capturing these photographs, Ugas asked his relatives to spend time with the object, considering its materiality and symbolism. Seen in the hands of his relatives, Ugas’s sculpture takes on new meaning, and suggests that like our genetic physiognomies, our identities and values represent composites of what we unconsciously inherit from our elders and communities. His hope is that the object can foster a dialogue both within his family and more broadly about individuals’ deep-seated beliefs and ideals.

Unlike facial coverings which protect from Covid-19, this mask-like sculpture provides more than physical protection. The work, crafted from pieces of the artist’s treasured childhood baby blanket, acts as a metaphorical helmet within which one can be safe from external influences and left alone to process one’s internal struggles. Hellfritsch’s use of the baby blanket speaks to her general interest in integrating sentimental objects into her work in meaningful ways, a practice she began at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic while sorting the materials in her studio. Using fabrics imbued with memories of familiar places or people allowed Hellfritsch to process the highly personal challenges of sheltering-in-place and while creating universally relatable representations of those struggles.