My name is John Jairo Valencia, or simply jhon jairo, and I grew up on Tongva territory: On the eastside of Yangna (LA) and Awingna (La Puente). I received my BA from UC Berkeley in 2016. I grew up very proud of my Xicanx and Colombian cultural background and, from a young age, have been very obsessed with the multiple origin stories of how I, my family, and our community/ies came to be; that being said, my work is deeply engrained in storytelling and my familial/ancestral hxstory. As an artist, I make it a responsibility to continue to tell my/our story, as well as dedicating time to continue exploring and researching more about what is unknown–– what has been written out.
I am a firm believer in "la cultura cura", a term coined by the late Chicano artist José Montoya, and that motto drives my work. Memory, reclaiming, and envisioning are all things that move me to make work that is healing for me, and hopefully others. Art is essential to building culture, and culture sustains, empowers, and builds unity amongst all people. Beyond all, I am an aspiring storyteller; stories weave us into the world of the infinite, our imagination, dreams, and spirit... and for me that is where truth and our source of power and freedom lie. My art seeks to find forms of liberation, deeply imbedded in the dream world and our hearts. |