About me ... 

Our life experiences and the memories that follow are what make us who we are. My work focuses on memories of my home and acts as an inside view of being a Mexican American farmer’s daughter.

The paintings are a reflection and documentation of images that permeate my mind– some images have remained clear while others have blurred with time. Agricultural imagery- orchards, leaves, and fruits - are intermingled with figures. These are layered between, over, and under loose and fluid paint that reference Northern California’s energetic weather. 

At times, the figures’ identities are somewhat ambiguous as this serves to group them into the category of agricultural workers as a whole, but more poignantly highlights the fact that agricultural workers are frequently forgotten and are unseen by society. Sometimes, the figures are identifiable and are portraits of people who have impacted my life. I seek to honor agricultural workers, whether with recognizable likenesses or not, through the process, time and dedication of painting them. 

-Tonantzin Esquivel