Robin Varguez-Rodriguez

Title: Nail Biter
Medium: Oil Painting
Dimensions: 9 x 12
Year Created: 2021

Artist Statement:

This piece represents the queer person who raised me back in Mexico. My nanny, Pili. They were Trans non-binary back in the 80’s when I don’t think that word even existed, at least not in Mexico. There are no neutral pronouns in Spanish so she go by She. Pili came from a small village in the Yucatan, often she wore feminine clothes and lived her life as loud and proud as can be. It was not easy, back then it was even scarier and dangerous to present yourself outside the binary, still is. She was not only brave and resilient, she was also so loving and warm. Pili loved watching novelas and often would bite her nails while doing it. This is a loving representation of her during those instances.