SF-based painter and performance artist, Ana Teresa Fernández, donned her superhero costume – black cocktail dress and stilettos – and painted part of the US-Mexico border to look like the sky.
“In Mexico we say, ‘It’s better to say you are sorry than to ask for permission,'” she told InTheMake. While she was painting the border, helicopters flew overhead and police arrived, sirens blaring. She was sure they’d whisk her away, but they didn’t. She was able to talk her way out of trouble and actually finish her project.
Some thought she was of odd – some have described her as ‘wacky’ – but a lot found her brilliant. But everyone started to have a conversation – and that as exactly her intention.
“My work aims to transcend the given,” says the painter and performance artist. In her mind, deep reflection makes room for new growth.
Not much was given to Teresa. She’s from a small town in Mexico and said when she came to The States that “the sky became the limit once we crossed that border.” These reflections on separation and opportunity stayed with her and continue to inform her art. She explores them in a way that pays attention to all our histories.
You may also find her in heels and a dress, riding through the jungle in Mexico on a stallion, or walking around in stilettos made of ice, teaching art at universities and high schools, or just surfing on ocean beach.
So hey – what do you think? Odd, awesome or somewhere in between?
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